GRAYDON'S 

MEMOIRS    OP   HIS   OWN  TIME. 


Sic  ego  sim  ;  liceatque  caput  canescere  canis, 

Temporis  et  prisci  facta  referre  senem. — TIBULLUS. 


\ 


MEMOIRS 


HIS     OWN     TIME. 


WITH 


REMINISCENCES 


OF  THE 


MEN     AND     EVENTS 


OF  THE 


REVOLUTION. 


ALEXANDER     GRAYDON 

n 


EDITED    BV 

JOHN    STOCKTON    LITTEL  L, 

MEMBER   OF   THE    HISTORICAL  POCIK'l  V  OK    PENNSVLV  .TIA 


PHILADELPHIA: 

LINDSAY    &    BLAKISTON. 

1846. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1 846, 

BY  JOHN  S.  LITTELL, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court,  for  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


GRIGGS  &   CO.,  PRINTERS. 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION.     -  -          xi 

INTRODUCTION.        ....  -         13 


CHAPTER  I. 

Bristol. — The  Author's  account  of  his  family,  and  early  education. — So 
ciety  of  Philadelphia. — Accident. — Family  history. — Quakers. — School 
at  Bristol. — School  discipline. — Mr.  Dove. — Philadelphia  Academy. — 
Mr.  Kinncrsley. — Anecdote. — Early  Adventure. — Author's  early  Cha 
racter.— Ballad. — Death  of  the  Author's  father. — Latin  School. — Mr. 
Bevcridgc. — Anecdotes  of  Mr.  Beveridge.— School  anecdote. — Singular 
petition, — Beveridge's  poems. — Philadelphia. — Academy. — Author's  ear 
ly  class-mates.  ....  ...  16 


CHAPTER  II. 


Retrospective  events  in  the  Author's  history. — Philadelphia. — Yellow  fever. 
— Lodging-house. — Foot  races. — Paxtori  bgyg^ — They  threaten  the  city. 
— Ogle  and  Friend. — Author's  early  amusements. — School  anecdotes. — 
Sailing  excursion. — Swimming  and  Skating-. — Abbe  Raynal. — Lodging- 
house  guests — Baron  Do  Kalb.— Lady  Moore. — Lady  Susan  O'Brien. — 
Woodward.— Sir  William  Draper.— Frank  Richardson.— Anecdote.— 
Major  Etherington. — Anecdote. — Majors  Small  and  Fell. — General 
Reid.— Captain  Wallace.— Anecdote  of  Joseph  Church. — Rivington  the 
printer.  ......  42 


253395 


VI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  III. 

Page 

The  Author  mixes  in  new  Society. — Is  destined  for  the  Law. — His  charac 
teristic  Indolence. — American  players. — Anecdotes. — Dramatic  Poetry. 
— Author's  pursuits. — Debating  Society. — Metaphysical  subtleties. — 
Causes  of  youthful  follies. — Letters  of  Junius. — Tamoc  Caspipina. — 
Mr,  Duche.  ........  79 


CHAPTER  IV. 


The  Author  removes  to  York. — Society  there. — A  Maryland  Parson. — 
Odd  character.— Judge  Stedman.— Mr.  James  Smith.— Family  circle. — 
jAuthor  returns  to  Philadelphia. — Prosecutes  the  study  of  the  Law. — 
Fencing — Mr.  Pike.— JCity  Tavern. — Singular  case  of  mental  derange- 
ment.-f  Retrospective  reflections.-fCauses  of  the  American  War.-|-State 
of  Parties.-JVolunteer  Companies.— {Political  consistency. — Preparations 
for  War. — Anecdote. — Early  attachment. — Dr.  Kearsley. — Mr.  Hunt. — 
Major  Skene.  -  -  '  -  -  -  .  -  -  100 


CHAPTER  V. 


Congress  Assembles. — Continental  Battalions.-f  State  of  Parties. — Mr. 
Richard  Penn. — His  Character. — Levy  of  Troops. — Officers. — Ad- 
vcnturc.-f-Patriotism. — Recruiting. — 111  Success. — Discipline. — Author 
sent  on  a  Mission. — Baron  Wocdtkc. — Military  Preparations. — Road  to 
Albany. — Saratoga. — Fort  Edward. — Lake  George. — General  Schuyler. 
— His  Character. — Author  returns  to  his  Regiment. — Judge  Livingston.  129 


CHAPTER  VI. 


/  The  Author  leaves  Philadelphia. — Appearance  of  the  Army. — Character 
of  the  Soldiers. — Erection  of  Fort  Washington. — Fort  Lee. — Character 
of  General  Milfliu. — An  odd  Character.— Connecticut  Light  Horse. — 
Character  of  the  Army  .-f  Declaration  of  Independence.— Statue  of  George 
III.— British  land  on  Long  Island. — Action  with  the  Enemy. — New 
York. — Privations  of  Soldiers. — Long  Island. — Entrenchment*. — Skir 
mishing. — Midnight  Scene  in  Camp. — Retreat  to  New  York. — Reflec 
tions. —  Washington  vindicated.— General  Howe. — Conduct  of  the  British.  145 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Page- 
Americans  abandon  New  York,— Take  post  at  Fort  Washington. — Cha. 
racter  of  Officers. — Fire  in  New  York. — Putnam. — Greene. — Promo 
tions. — Fort  Washington  threatened.-— Summoned  by  General  Howe. — 
Americans  attacked  and  retire. — Account  of  the  Engagement.  172 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Author  a  Prisoner.— Conduct  of  British  Officers  and  Soldiers.— The 
Author's  Treatment. — State  of  Prisoners. — Visits  to  Prisoners. — Treat 
ment. — Major  Maitland. — Reflections. — Americans  and  English  con 
trasted. — Character  of  General  Howe. — Killed  and  Wounded. — Charac 
ter  of  Mr.  Becket. — Humanity  of  British  Officers. — March  of  Prisoners 
to  New  York. — Occurrences  on  the  Road. — Generosity  of  a  Highlander. 
— Disposal  of  Prisoners. — Officers'  Quarters. — Baggage  Restored. — 
Author  appears  in  Regimentals. — Reflections.  208 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Pardon  offered  by  Howe  to  the  Americans,  upon  return  to  their  allegiance. 
— Letter  of  General  Washington. — An  Officer's  dinner  party. — A  singu 
lar  Character. — Treatment  of  Prisoners. — Reflections  on  the  American 
policy. — Memorial  presented  to  General  Howe. — Situation  of  Affairs. — 
American  Officers. — Deserters  from  the  cause  of  Independence. — Pros 
pects.— Coffee-house  Incident. — British  Provost  Marshal. — Colonel  Al 
len. — Result  of  application  to  General  Howe. — Exchange  of  Piisoners. — 
Removal  of  officers  to  Long  Island.  ....  227 


CHAPTER  X. 

Situation  of  Officers  at  Long  Island.— Society  at  Flat-bush.— Manners  of 
the  People. — Mr.  Bachc. — Captain  Hutchins. — Domine  Reubell. — Do- 
mine  Van  Zinder. — An  Excursion. — Public  Feeli-ng. — Mr.  Wallace. — 
Officers'  Appointments.— Obstructions  to  an  Exchange. — Hardships  of 
Captivity. — Elagiac  Stanzas  of  the  Author. — Obstacles  to  exchange  of 
officers.— Author  visited  by  his  Mother. — Maternal  Anxiety.— British 
Post. — Officers.— Sir  George  Osborne. — Bon  Mot. — Applications  for 
Author's  release. — Application  to  General  Howe. — Author  liberated  on 
his  Parole.— Reflections,  on  War.  -  -  -  -  264 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XL 

Page 

The  Author  leaves  Long  Island  for  New  York  and  Elizabethtown. — Author 
arrives  at  New  York. — Travelling  Companions. — Tench  Coxe. — Ar 
rival  at  the  American  Camp. — General  Washington. — Colonel  Hamilton. 
— American  Army. — General  Wayne. — Occurrences  on  the  Road. — Au 
thor  arrives  at  Philadelphia. — Arrival  at  Reading.-J-Political  Feelings. 

Declaration  of  Independence.-^Character  of  Franklin. — Leading  Men. — 

Mr.  Canon. — Mr.  Bryan.  .  .  .  .  .  -271 

CHAPTER  XII. 


Philadelphia  Threatened. — Washington  marches  to  meet  the  Enemy. 

Review  of  the  Army. — Action  at  Brandy  wine.— Reflections  on  National' 
Strength.— Measures  of  Washington. — Character  of  his  Operations.— 
Defeat  of  Burgoyne.— Society  at  Reading.— Generals  Mifflin,  Gates,  Con- 
way,  Lee. — Captain  Speke. — Prisoners.— British  Officers  on  Parole. — 
Author  Exchanged.— Married.-|-Renections.-J-Occurrencc  of  the  War.— 

|  Charles  Thomson.  ...  .       930 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Aftcclation  in  Titles.— Escape  of  Prisoners.— Major  Williams. — Mr.  For 
rest. — General     exchange    of    Prisoners. — Supernumerary   Officers. 

Generals  WASHINGTON  and  Charles  Lee. — Character  of  Lee. — Drayton. 

Laurcns. — Military  Anecdotes. — Author  enrolled  in  the  Militia.— 
Wanton  Oppression. — Mr.  Parvin.-^Quaker  Opinions  of  War.^-Dr. 

Franklin. — Visitors  at  Reading. — Mrs.  Macaulay. — Popular  Feeling. 

Milton.— Constitutionalists  and  Republicans.— Author  obtains  an  ap- 
pointment.-l-Jolm  Dickinson.-4Political  Consistency. — Charles  James 
Fox -  313 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


( 'onstitution  of  the  United  States. — WASHINGTON  elected  President. — 
Meeting  of  Convention. — The  Senate. — Executive  Power. — Regulation 
of  the  Prcss.f-State  of  Parties.-f-Leading  Characters  in  the  Convention. 
— French  Revolution. — Burke  and  Paine. — Washington's  Administra 
tion. —Party  Dissensions.— Mr.  JRPPERSON. — State  of  Parties.  -  33P 


CONTENTS.  IX 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Page 

Yellow  Fever. — Marsh  Effluvia. — Popular  Feelings  towards  France. — 
Party  Feelings. — A  Threatened  Insurrection  suppressed  by  the  Presi 
dent. — The  Western  Expedition. — Address  to  the  President. — French 
Party. — Treaty  with  Great  Britain  Opposed. — Rochefoucault. — French 
Travellers. — M.Talon.— Genet.— Washington's  Retirement— Character 
of  WASHINGTON.  -  ....  365 

CHAPTER  XVI. 


Election  of  John  Adams  to  the  Presidency. — His  Administration. — Mission 
to  France. — French  Party  in  America. — Imposition  of  Taxes. — Singular 
Fabrication. — Another  popular  Insurrection. — Election  of  Jefferson  to 
the  Presidency. — Popular  Fanaticism. — Author's  Political  Principles. — 
Death  of  WASHINGTON. — Character  of  Jefferson. — Concluding  Reflec 
tions. — Conclusion.  .......  385 


APPENDIX. 

Alexander  Gray  don,  the  Elder,      -             -             -             -             -             -  417 

Dr.  Lauchlan  Macleane,    ...                                        -             -  418 

Warren,    -                            .......  421 

Battle  of  Bunker's  Hill,     -                         ......  421 

John  Hancock,       ........  425 

Reverend  Jacob  Duche,     .......  428 

Letter  from  Mr.  Duche  to  General  Washington,    ...             .             -  429 

General  Washington  to  Francis  Hopkinson,          ....  437 

Francis  Hopkinson  to  Jacob  Duche,           .....  438 

Letter  from  Mr.  Duche  to  General  Washington,    ....  441 

LetterYrom  General  Washington  to  Mr.  Duche,   ....  442 

Joseph  Galloway,                -                          .....  443 

John  Dickinson,                  .......  445 

Letter  from  Washington  to  Reed,   ......  449 

Capture  of  General  Charles  Lee,    -  -  .  .  -  -451 

General  Washington  to  Colonel  Reed  or  Cadwalader,        .            -            -  454 


X  CONTENTS. 

Page 

Washington  at  Brandy  wine,  -  455 

Battle  of  Monmouth,  457 

General  Lee  to  General  Washington,         -  459 

General  Lee  to  General  Washington,         -  461 

Washington  to  Lee,  -  462 

Lee  to  Washington,  -  462 

Lee  to  Washington,  .             -  463 

Washington  to  Lee,  -  463 

Charges  against  Lee,  -  464 

Washington  and  Lee,         -  464 

Washington  to  Reed,          -  -                           -  466 

Lee's  Queries,  Political  and  Military,  -  466 

Miss  Franks  and  General  Lee,      -  -  468 

General  Lee  to  Miss  Franks,          -                          ....  470 

Colonel  John  Laurens,       ...  .  472 

Charles  James  Fox,                         -  ...  476 

Washington  at  Harrisburgh,          -  ...  478 

President  Adams,                            .             .  .                          .  480 
President  Adam's  Answer  to  the  Harrisburgh  Address.     Comments  by 

Mr.  Graydon.     ...  .  482 

Jefferson,  His  Election  to  the  Presidency,  -  484 


EDITOR'S    INTRODUCTION. 


No  apology  will  be  offered  by  the  Editor  for  the  republication 
of  this  volume.  The  candid  and  intelligent  reader,  whatever 
may  be  his  political  predilections,  who,  in  the  spirit  of  honour 
able  inquiry,  seeks  only  for  truth,  who  can  value  manly  sincerity, 
and  appreciate  the  importance  of  the  subjects  truthfully  and  grace 
fully  discussed  by  its  accomplished  Author,  would  feel  his  under 
standing  insulted,  and  his  taste  and  judgment  questioned,  by  any 
such  attempt. 

Five  and  thirty  years  have  elapsed  since,  at  an  obscure,  pro 
vincial  press,  the  first  edition  of  this  Work  was  anonymously, 
issued,  and  left  to  win  its  way,  by  slow  degrees,  and  without  any 
of  the  adventitious  aids  so  abundantly  characteristic  of  the  present 
time,  to  public  notice  and  favour.  It  was,  moreover,  at  that 
comparatively  early  period  of  our  national  being,  a  far  more 
serious  enterprize  to  write  and  to  publish  a  book,  even  of  the 
modest  dimensions  of  this,  than  can  easily  be  conceived  by  those 
who  only  regard,  with  feelings  approaching  to  wonder,  the  rapid 
and  endless  multiplications  of  the  press  at  this  more  prosperous 


Xll 

and  more  literary  era.  In  addition  to  these  disadvantages, 
although  its  respectable  printer  availed  himself  of  such  facilities 
for  its  external  decoration  as  his,  then,  remote  position  enabled 
him  to  command,  the  appearance  of  the  volume  was  singularly 
unattractive  and  defective.  To  these  formidable  obstacles  to  its 
success  may  be  superadded  yet  another.  The  title, — a  most 
important  feature  in  the  mystery  of  authorship, — failed  to  con 
vey  a  just  idea  of  its  character  and  scope,  and  it  dropped,  un 
heeded,  from  the  press.*  The  personal  friends  of  the  Author, — 
and  they  were  numerous  and  warmly  attached, — it  is  true  en 
couraged  the  publication  of  the  Work  by  liberal  subscriptions  for 
copies,  which,  to  some  extent,  were  subsequently  distributed  as 
gifts ;  but  its  sale,  at  the  book-stores,  was  extremely  restricted, 
and  scantily  contributed  to  the  liquidation  of  expenses  incurred. 

This  edition  is  presented  to  the  public  with  a  title  somewhat 
modified,  but,  as  the  Editor  conceives,  more  expressive  and  ap 
propriate  ;  and  this  is  the  only  freedom,  in  the  way  of  alteration, 
he  has  presumed  to  take. 

The  personal  nature  of  these  Memoirs  has  left  but  little  for  the 
Editor  to  add,  in  regard  to  their  estimable  Author ;  who  has,  with 
an  unrestrained  and  a  steady  hand,  frankly  delineated  his  own 
character  throughout  the  work.  This,  at  all  times,  an  extremely 
delicate  and  difficult  task,  is  said,  by  those  who  knew  him  well, 
to  have  been  faithfully  accomplished;  and  although  there  was 
little  beyond  the  limits  of  habitual  and  gentlemanly  propriety  for 

*  The  original  title  was  as  follows : — 

"Memoirs  of  a  Life,  Chiefly  Passed  in  Pennsylvania,  within  the  Last  Sixty 
Years,  with  Occasional  Remarks  upon  the  General  Occurrences,  Character 
and  Spirit  of  that  Eventful  Period.  Harrisburgh :  Printed  by  John  Wyeth. 
1811." 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION.  xm 

him  to  expose  in  the  way  of  confession,  that  confession  has  been 
honestly  and  courageously  made. 

In  the  year  1785,  having  received,  from  the  Executive  Com 
mittee  of  Pennsylvania,  an  appointment  to  the  Prothonotaryship 
of  the  newly  organized  county  of  Dauphin,  MR.  GRAYDON  re 
moved  to  Harrisburgh  for  the  purpose  of  entering  upon  the  duties 
of  his  office,  which  he  continued  to  perform  in  a  manner  alike 
creditable  to  himself  and  advantageous  to  the  public,  until  his 
sudden  expulsion  by  Governor  McKean, — to  whom  belongs  the 
unenviable  distinction  of  being  the  father  of  political  proscription 
in  the  United  States.  He  then  retired  to  a  small  farm  which  he 
possessed  in  the  vicinage  of  Harrisburgh,  where  he  continued  to 
reside  until  the  year  1816,  when  he  returned  to  Philadelphia  with 
the  intention  of  engaging  in  literary  pursuits,  and,  with  a  view  to 
the  increase  of  a  very  restricted  income,  of  entering  upon  the 
business  of  a  Publisher. 

"There  never  breathed  a  man  who,  when  his  life 
Was  closing-,  might  not  of  that  life  relate 
Toils  long  and  hard,"* 

and  MR.  GRAYDON  was,  by  no  means,  a  fortunate  exception  to 
the  general  rule.  Ere  he  could  mature  the  plans,  from  which,  in 
his  life's  decline,  he  had  hoped  to  secure  the  independence  he 
coveted,  and  which  would  have  adorned,  with  a  peculiar  grace, 
his  character,  tastes,  and  years ;  or  from  which  to  repair  the 
breach  unexpectedly,  cruelly,  and  causelessly  made  by  arbitrary 
and  vindictive  Executive  power,  he  yielded  to  the  mandate  which 
all  must  obey,  and  closed  his  honourable,  useful,  and  virtuous  life 
on  the  second  day  of  May,  1818,  in  the  sixty-seventh  year  of  his 

*  WORDSWORTH. 
B 


XIV 

age.  MR.  GRAYDON  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife,  in  whom 
he  has  well  succeeded  in  engaging  the  interest  of  the  reader,  was 
Miss  WOOD,  from  Berks  country,  who  died  at  Harrisburgh  early 
in  the  year  1794.  His  second  wife  was  Miss  THEODOSIA  PETTIT? 
daughter  of  Colonel  CHARLES  PETTIT,  of  Philadelphia,  who  sur 
vived  her  husband  eighteen  years.  He  had  no  children  by  either 
marriage. 

MR.  GRAYDON  was  ardently  attached  to  literature,  and  to  lite 
rary  pursuits.  He  was  a  frequent  and  acceptable  contributor  to 
the  "PORT  FOLIO"  in  its  palmiest  days  of  popularity  and  influ 
ence.  These  contributions,  wrhich,  for  the  most  part,  were  mo 
destly  denominated  "  NOTES  OF  A  DESULTORY  READER,"  contain 
his  opinions  of  the  authors  whose  works  he  had  read,  accompa 
nied  with  occasional  critiques  upon  their  style,  and  are  invariably 
written  in  the  strain  of  candour  and  ease  that  so  remarkably  cha 
racterize  the  Memoirs ;  affording,  moreover,  indubitable  evidence 
of  the  elevation  and  purity  of  his  own  sentiments,  and  of  an 
enlarged,  well  disciplined  and  highly  cultivated  mind.  His  lite 
rature,  indeed,  was  various,  extensive,  and  elegant  to  a  degree 
unusual  at  the  time  in  which  he  lived ;  and  not  very  common 
among  his  steam-propelling,  money-seeking  countrymen,  at  any 
subsequent  period. 

It  was,  at  one  time,  the  wish  of  the  Editor  to  incorporate  these 
articles  into  this  edition  of  the  Memoirs,  but  he  was  reluctant  to 
swell  the  volume  by  the  addition  of  matter  having  no  connexion 
with  the  topics  of  which  it  treats.  If,  however,  another  edition 
should  be  called  for,  the  original  intention  may  be  deemed  worthy 
of  reconsideration;  or  they  may,  perhaps,  form  a  separate  vo 
lume,  under  the  title  of  "  Remains."  They  were  valuable  con- 


XV 

tributions,  and  creditable  to  the  periodical  literature  of  the  day, 
and  are  certainly  deserving  of  publication  and  preservation. 

The  Editor  of  the  "Port  Folio"  in  a  notice  of  the  Memoirs, 
contained  in  his  number  for  April,  1818,  in  language  appropriate 
and  strong,  declares  that  the  "performance  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  which  the  loom  of  American  authorship  has  produced ;" 
and,  in  adverting  to  the  unfortunate  garb  in  which  it  came  forth, 
remarks  farther,  that  he  felt  no  surprise  that  the  public  had  failed 
to  discover  the  "  GEM,  that  was  concealed  beneath  an  unpromising 
exterior."  The  brief  critique  is  valuable,  both  on  account  of  the 
justness  of  the  writer's  views,  and  also  as  evidence  of  a  generous 
and  candid  contemporaneous  appreciation  of  our  Author.  The 
following  extract  will  not  be  unacceptable  to  the  reader: — 

"We  shall  not  hesitate  to  say,  in  going  back  to  a  book  that 
was  published  before  our  labours  commenced,  that  our  object  is 
to  stimulate  the  reading  part  of  the  community  to  the  vindication 
of  their  taste,  which  deserves  reproach  while  these  Memoirs  lie 
forgotten  on  the  shelves.  To  those  who  would  acquire  a  familiar 
view  of  the  state  of  manners  and  public  opinion  about  the  time 
that  our  Revolution  commenced,  there  is  nothing  which  contri 
butes  so  much  accurate  testimony ;  and  to  others,  who  have  not 
forgotten  this  eventful  period,  we  know  of  nothing  more  capti 
vating.  We  are  aware  that  the  fastidious  delicacy  of  some  has 
been  offended  by  the  freedom  with  which  the  writer  has  spoken 
of  individuals ;  but  a  very  great  distinction  must  be  admitted  be 
tween  conversation  and  writing.  Zimmerman  justly  remarks,  that 
1  to  entertain  readers  is  only  to  deliver  freely  in  writing  that 
which,  in  the  general  intercourse  of  society,  it  is  impossible  to  say 
with  safety  and  politeness.'  It  is  time  thatt  his  mawkish  delicacy 


XVI 

should  be  overcome,  or  we  shall  have  nothing  manly  in  our  lite 
rature  ;  nothing  true  in  our  history,  or  just  in  our  memoirs.  Our 
writers,  to  be  popular,  must  deal  in  the  most  ridiculous  bombast 
and  fulsome  panegyric.  Our  western  world  must  be  peopled  by 
nothing  but  a  race  of  orators,  like  those  who  fulmined  the  thunder 
of  eloquence  on  classical  grounds,  and  heroes  who  would  have 
rivalled  a  Marlborough,  a  Prince  Eugene,  or  a  Marshal  Saxe.  If 
Cumberland  and  Marmontel  had  written  under  all  the  restrictions 
which  the  fastidiousness  of  some  of  our  good  republicans  would 
impose  upon  the  Press,  where  would  be  the  witchery  of  their 
pages  ?  If  the  optimates  of  our  cities — we  should  say,  persons  in 
society,  if  we  could  accompany  the  observation  by  a  fac-simile  of 
the  customary  shrug — if  such  people  will  insist  on  an  exemption 
from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Press,  they  must  contribute  their  quota 
to  the  general  fund  of  amusement  and  instruction  in  some  other 
way.  If  they  would  prevent  us  from  laughing  at  the  ostentation 
of  the  exterior  of  their  houses,  let  them  show  that  hospitality  and 
refinement  dwell  within  the  doors.  If  they  cannot  discern  the 
pleasures  and  utility  of  literature,  let  them  respect  the  pursuits 
of  wiser  men,  and  not  act  as  if  all  knowledge  was  confined  to  the 
conclave  of  a  bank  or  a  counting-room.  In  conclusion,  we 
must  observe  of  MR.  GRAYDON'S  book,  that  its  veracity  and  its 
candour  are  altogether  beyond  impeachment,  and  he  has  ques 
tioned  no  man's  morality." 

Within  a  few  weeks  after  the  above  was  written,  when  called 
upon  to  record  the  demise  of  this  excellent  man,  the  same  writer, 
who  enjoyed  the  pleasure  and  advantage  of  his  personal  friend 
ship,  thus  feelingly  alludes  to  the  much  regretted  event: — "MR. 
GRAYDON  wras  one  of  the  few  survivors  of  that  old  school  of  ac- 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION.  xvii 

complished  gentlemen,  who  flourished  before  our  Revolution ; 

at  a  period  when  the  courtesy  of  society  was  not  disturbed  by 
insubordination  in  systems,  nor  violated  by  laxity  in  sentiments. 
That  he  has  indulged  himself  in  some  harshness  in  these  Memoirs 
will  not  be  denied ;  nor  will  that  language  be  censured  by  those 
who  remember  the  merciless  persecution  by  which  it  was  pro 
voked. 

" "  So  looks  the  chased  lion 

Upon  the  daring  huntsman  that  has  galled  him ; 
Then  makes  him  nothing." 

In  his  youth,  MR.  GRAYDON  was  remarkable  for  the  elegance  of 
his  person,  and  he  retained  that  advantage  in  an  uncommon  de 
gree  to  his  latest  hour.  The  elements  of  his  temper  were  kindness 
and  good  will ;  he  was  frank  and  generous ;  his  disposition  was 
sociable  and  equally  fitted  to  win  esteem  or  disarm  resentment ; 
his  conversation,  chaste  and  pleasant,  diffused  the  same  agreeable 
feelings  around  him  which  seemed  to  warm  his  own  heart.  His 
last  private  communication  to  the  writer  of  this  memorial,  derives 
peculiar  interest  from  the  melancholy  event  by  which  it  was 
speedily  followed.  The  letter  contained  a  translation  of  a  Latin 
epigram ;  and  though  the  muse  of  our  friend  cannot  boast  the 
melody  of  the  Swan,  yet  she  breathes  the  same  prophetic  strain. 
The  reader  will  require  no  apology  for  the  insertion  of  an  extract 

from  MR.  GRAYDON'S  letter  to  the  Editor : 

" In  a  sl°w  convalescence  from  a  lingering  indisposition, 

I  have  amused  myself  with  the  enclosed  translation,  which  is  at 
the  service  of  the  Port  Folio,  if  worthy  of  its  pages.  It  struck 
me  as  a  pleasing  trifle,  and  though  no  poet,  I  had  a  mind  to  try 
how  I  could  dress  it  in  English  metre.  I  am  not  unmindful  of 


XV111 

the  story  in  Gil  Bias  of  the  Archbishop  of  Granada, — the  old 
gentleman  so  celebrated  for  his  homilies.  For,  though  like  him, 
I  may  not  be  sensible  of  a  decadence  in  my  mental  faculties,  it 
may  nevertheless  exist ;  and,  whether  or  not,  every  person,  I  pre 
sume  who  has  attained  to  my  years  (65)  will  feel  a  want  of  the 
vis  animce  or  animi,  that  is  necessary  to  the  ready  performance  oi 
a  literary  undertaking,  &c." 

THE  ORIGINAL. 

Avulsa  e  ramo,  frons  6  miseranda,  vircnti, 
Marcida.  quo  vadis? — Quo  vadam,  nescio — Quercum 
Matcrnam  columcnquc  meum  stravere  procellcD. 
Inde  mihi  illudit  Zephyrus,  Boreasve;  vagamque 
Nee  contra  nitor.     Quo  TENDUNT  OMNIA,  TENDO  ; 
Qu6  fertur  paritcr  folium  lauri  rosacque. 

ATTEMPTED  IN  ENGLISH. 

Torn  from  thy  nurturing  branch,  poor,  fallen  leaf, 
What  hapless  lot  awaits  thy  withering  form  ? 

Alas!  I  know  not, but  I  mourn  in  chief, 
My  parent  oak  laid  prostrate  by  the  storm. 

Hence,  doomed  the  sport  of  every  vagrant  breeze, 
I'm  hurried  up  the  mount,  then  down  again  ; 

One  while  I  mildew  under  shading  trees, 
Now,  whirl'd  afield,  I  bleach  upon  the  plain. 

In  short,  I  GO,  WHERE  ALL  THINGS  EARTHLY  TEND, 

And,  unresisting,  meet  my  wasting  foes  : 
For  oaks  and  brambles  have  one  common  end — 

The  folhgc  of  the  laurel  and  the  rose. 

*  *  *  <c  Tjie  Memoirs  contain  some  things  that 
are  bold  and  unpalateable,  but  it  is  a  work  of  unexampled  can 
dour  and  truth ;  and  will  conduce  more  to  a  veritable  history  of 


XIX 


the  times,  to  which  it  relates,  than  any  other  publication  now 
extant."  *  *  *  "  MR.  GRAYDON  never  lost  sight  of  those  im 
perishable  principles  for  which  he  had  contended  on  the  field. 
He  cherished  the  love  of  liberty,  which  beat  in  his  heart  until  it 
became  the  impression  of  his  conscience  and  the  conviction  of 
his  understanding.  Though  a  severe  sufferer  from  political  in 
tolerance,  nothing  like  tergiversation  could  be  ranked  among  his 
failings.  The  perilous  appearances  in  our  political  horizon  never 
alarmed  the  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  who  knew  that  the  rela 
tions  of  truth  and  justice  are  immutable." 

In  the  year  1822,  MR.  JOHN  GALT,  well  known  for  his  many 
entertaining  and  valuable  contributions  to  English  literature, 
caused  the  re-publication  of  the  Memoirs  at  Edinburgh,  in  a 
handsome  volume,  to  which  he  prefixed  a  dedication  to  the  Ame 
rican  Envoy,  then  resident  near  the  Court  of  St.  James.  In  this 
dedication  MR.  GALT  bears  the  following  judicious  testimony  to 
the  merit  and  character  of  the  work : — 

"  It  is  remarkable,  that  a  production  so  rich  in  the  various  ex 
cellencies  of  style,  description  and  impartiality,  should  not  have 
been  known  to  the  collectors  of  American  books  in  this  country, 
especially  as  it  is,  perhaps,  the  best  personal  narrative  that  has 
yet  appeared  relative  to  the  history  of  that  great  conflict  which 
terminated  in  establishing  the  Independence  of  the  United  States. 
The  candour  with  respect  to  public  occurrences,  \vhich  it  dis 
plays — the  views  of  manners  in  Pennsylvania,  prior  to  the  memo 
rable  era  of  1776 — and  the  incidental  sketches  of  historical  cha 
racters,  with  which  it  is  enriched,  cannot  fail  to  render  the  volume 
a  valuable  addition  to  the  stock  of  general  knowledge,  and  will, 
probably,  obtain  for  the  Author  no  mean  place  among  those  who 
have  added  permanent  lustre  to  the  English  language." 


xx  EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION. 

Commendations,  thus  unequivocal,  from  sources  entitled  to 
deference  and  weight,  render  it  unnecessary  to  dwell  longer  upon 
the  subject.  It  only  remains  for  the  Editor  to  allude,  with  be 
coming  brevity,  to  his  humble  labours;  and,  while  freely  admit 
ting  a  general  and  a  cordial  sympathy  with  the  Author  in  the 
feelings  and  opinions  he  has  so  well  portrayed  and  expressed,  to 
disclaim  responsibility  for  their  utterance  where  it  may  not  justly 
attach  to  him. 

He  has,  indeed,  on  several  occasions,  in  the  notes,  ventured  to 
express  dissent  from  the  judgments  of  the  writer;  subsequent  de 
velopments  having  placed  within  his  reach,  information  which 
could  not  have  been  accessible  to  MR.  GRAYDON. 

The  observations  appended  by  the  Author  to  the  last  page  of 
his  private  copy  of  the  "MEMOIRS,"  are  annexed  to  the  original 
conclusion,  injustice  to  him,  and  as  a  more  befitting,  present  ter 
mination  of  the  volume.     But,  as  the  Editor  may  not  alter  or 
mollify  any  of  its   expressions,  it   is   but  justice   to   himself  to 
remark,  that  this  is  done  without  concurrence,  on  his  part,  in  all 
the    sentiments   they   contain.      On    the    contrary,   he   cannot, 
whatever  may  be  his  own  predelictions,  indulge  in  indiscriminate 
censure  of  the   acts   of  any  party  that   may  chance   to  be  in 
the  ascendant.     The  great  mass  of  the  native  population— and 
any  disparagement  of  the  other,  influential  and  gradually  con 
trolling  portion,  is  emphatically  disclaimed— who,  alone,  cherish 
an  exclusive,  or,  at  least,  predominant  attachment  to  the  soil  and 
institutions  of  their  country,  are,  without  doubt,  patriotic;  and, 
perhaps,  the  only  serious  charge  that  may  reasonably  be  placed 
to  their  account,  is  that  of  a  too  great  ductility  towards  mere 
party-leaders ;  adopting,  without  due  examination  or  reflection- 
such  as  becomes  intelligent  citizens  deserving  of  their  freedom 


XXI 

and  independence — the  plausible  dogmas  of  ignorant,  unprinci 
pled  demagogues,  or  of  inexperienced  and  reckless  experi 
mentalists. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  defects  of  the  "  Madisonian 
Policy,"  to  which  MR.  GRAYDON  alludes — and  in  regard  to  which 
the  knowledge  of  the  Editor  is  entirely  historical — it  cannot,  he 
presumes,  be  denied  that  the  Government  of  the  country,  at  that 
gloomy  period,  was  encompassed  by  difficulties  and  menaced  by 
dangers  of  no  ordinary  character ;  and,  as  it  was  a  manifest  and 
monstrous  dereliction  of  filial  duty  to  withhold  the  necessary  aid 
in  her  extrication  and  defence,  so  was  it  little  short  of  treason  to 
interpose  obstacles  to  the  complete  and  triumphant  vindication  of 
her  rights  and  honour.  Yet,  to  such  unnatural  lengths  have 
party  antipathies,  rage,  and  blindness,  tempted  men  whose  services 
and  genius  would  otherwise  have  deserved  and  commanded  un 
qualified  admiration  and  gratitude.  It  is,  assuredly,  the  part  of 
wisdom  to  avoid  warlike  or  angry  collision  and  controversy  with 
other  nations,  alike  injurious  in  their  tendency  to  prosperity  and  to 
morals ; — let  the  people,  therefore,  look  well  to  their  rulers,  and 
be  duly  careful  in  their  selection  ; — but  it  is  equally  an  obvious 
dictate  of  patriotism,  whatever  the  "policy,"  by  which  she  may 
become  involved,  at  any  and  at  every  sacrifice,  to  shield  the  country 
from  discomfiture  and  disgrace.  Nor  can  the  Editor  permit  the 
fears  or  the  doubts  of  the  Author,  or  of  other  equally  thoughtful 
and  patriotic  men,  to  weaken  his  firm  and  abiding  faith  in  the 
permanency  of  our  institutions.  Of  the  lasting  prevalence  of 
republican  feeling,  and  of  the  rapidly  progressive  and  widely 
spreading  love  for  these  institutions,  no  genuine  son  of  the  soil 
should  ever  encourage  or  entertain  a  doubt.  It  is  true,  that  the 


xxii  EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION. 

people— fondly  loved,  and  caressingly  flattered  by  those  who 
alone  are  capable  of  serving  them,  and  who  are,  therefore,  ex 
clusively  deserving  of  their  smiles  and  offices,  and  honours— have 
made  some  startling  mistakes,  which  have  paled  the  cheek,  and 
checked  the  warm  current  of  patriotic  hope.  We  have  seen,  for 
example,  a  citizen  of  consummate  ability,  of  profound  learning, 
and  of  unsurpassed  experience,  hurled  from  the  high  station 
which  his  genius  and  talents  adorned,  in  the  whirl  of  popularity 
achieved  by  a  patriotic  and  fortunate  General,  whose  great  mili 
tary  talents,  and  brilliant  exploits  in  the  field,  were  deemed  suffi 
cient  qualifications  for  the  most  elevated  of  civic  trusts ! 

We  have,  also,  seen  a  statesman  who,  for  forty  years,  has  been 
a  leading  public  servant,— exercising,  in  the  national  councils,  a 
commanding  and  conservative  influence ;  and  who,  for  two-thirds  of 
this  long  period  of  toilsome,  self-sacrificing  devotion  to  his  coun 
try,  has  been,  of  that  country, — under  the  guidance  of  a  higher 
Intelligence, — thrice  the  preserver ; — an  illustrious  offspring  of  its 
free,  equalizing,  and  nurturing  institutions, — its  greatest  living 
name, — we  have  seen  this  wise  and  generous  man,  OSTRACISED  by 
strangers  who  are  called  his  countrymen;  and  another,  without 
name,  or  fame,  or  service,  elevated,  by  the  controlling  influence 
of  the  same  law-created  citizens,  from  the  "thick  darkness"  of 
obscurity,  to  the  CHAIR  OF  WASHINGTON  !  Such  occurrences 
overshadow  with  temporary  gloom  and  despondency,  the  prospect 
into  futurity,  and  sicken  the  heart  and  depress  the  spirit  of  the 
enlightened  patriot,  whose  duty  it  is,  notwithstanding,  never  to 
despair  while  there  is  service  to  render  or  while  a  sacrifice  is 
required. 

After  he  had  commenced  the  preparation  of  the  Memoirs  for 


XX111 

the  press,  and  had  made  considerable  progress  in  the  division  of 
the  work  into  chapters  for  the  greater  convenience  of  reference, — 
a  plan  not  adopted  by  the  Author, — the  Editor  was  fortunate  in 
procuring  a  copy  of  the  Edinburgh  edition  in  which  MR.  GALT 
had  performed  this  service  in  a  manner  somewhat  different,  but, 
on  the  wrhole,  very  satisfactorily ;  and  his  arrangement,  in  this 
respect,  with  slight  modification,  has  been  adopted.  Beyond  this, 
however,  MR.  GALT  did  not  venture  to  proceed. 

To  this  Edition,  a  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS,  and  a  general  INDEX 
have  been  added ;  and  also  an  APPENDIX  containing  illustrative 
matter,  wrhich  could  not,  without  burdening  the  page,  be  crowded 
into  notes. 

Acknowledgements  are  due  to  MR.  ANDREW  GRAYDON,  of  Har- 
risburgh,  for  the  kindness  and  courtesy  which  unreservedly  placed 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Editor,  documents  that  have  greatly  facili 
tated  his  researches,  and  especially  for  the  use  of  his  Uncle's  pri 
vate  copy  of  the  Memoirs,  to  many  of  the  pages  of  which  the 
Author  had  appended  notes  with  a  view,  unquestionably,  to  a  future 
republication.  These  notes  have  been  faithfully  transcribed  and 
placed  where  their  writer  evidently  intended  them  to  appear; 
while  those  of  the  Editor  have  received  their  appropriate  designa 
tion. 

The  volume  is  thus  submitted,  once  more,  but  in  a  befitting 
dress,  to  the  candour  of  the  intelligent  and  discriminating  reader, 
as  a  valuable  addition  to  the  historical  literature  of  the  country  for 
whose  independence  and  happiness  its  Author  perilled  his  fortunes 
and  his  life ;  and  whatever  may  be  his  impressions  in  respect  to 
the  opinions  which  it  contains,  their  manifest  sincerity  will  com 
mand  respect,  and  the  style  and  temper  of  their  expression, 


xxiv  EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION. 

while  deserving  of  general  imitation,  will  challenge  good-will  and 
admiration. 

The  beautiful  tribute  of  WORDSWORTH  to  the  Memory  of  LAMB, 
is,  with  slight  modification,  almost  equally  applicable  here,  and 
may,  not  inappropriately,  terminate  the  trespass  of  the  Editor 
upon  the  patience  of  his  reader : — 

"To  a  good  man  of  most  dear  memory 
This  stone  is  sacred.     Here  he  lies  apart 
From  the  great  city  where  he  first  drew  breath, 
Was  reared  and  taught ;  and  humbly  earned  his  bread 
To  the  strict  labours  of  the  merchants'  desk, 
By  duty  chained.     Not  seldom  did  these  tasks 
Tease,  and  the  thought  of  time  so  spent  depress 
His  spirit,  but  the  recompense  was  high ; 
Firm  Independence,  Bounty's  rightful  sire ; 
Affections  warm  as  sunshine,  free  as  air; 
And  when  the  precious  hours  of  leisure  came, 
Knowledge  and  wisdom,  gained  from  converse  sweet 
With  books,  or  while  he  ranged  the  crowded  streets 
With  a  keen  eye,  and  overflowing  heart : 
So  genius  triumphed  over  seeming  wrong, 
And  pour'd  out  truth  in  works  by  thoughtful  love 
Inspired — works  potent  over  smiles  and  tears. 
And  as  round  mountain-tops  the  lightning  plays, 
Tims  innocently  sported,  breaking  forth 
As  from  a  cloud  of  some  grave  sympathy, 
Humour  and  wild  instinctive  wit  and  all 
The  vivid  flashes  of  his  spoken  words." 

J.  S.  L. 

Germantown,  Pennsylvania,  t 
April  llth,  1846.  I 


MEMOIRS    OF   A   LIFE, 

PASSED  CHIEFLY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  dealers  in  self-biography,  ever  sedulous  to  ward  off  the 
imputation  of  egotism,  seldom  fail  to  find  apologies  for  their  un 
dertakings.  Some,  indeed,  endeavour  to  persuade  themselves, 
that  they  design  their  labours  merely  for  their  scrutoires  ;  while 
others,  less  self-deceived,  admit  they  have  an  eye  to  the  public. 
The  Cardinal  De  Retz  is  brought  out  at  the  request  of  a  lady ; 
Rousseau,  by  the  desire  of  showing  himself  to  a  misjudging 
world,  in  all  the  verity  of  nature ;  Marmontel,  writes  his  life  for 
his  children  at  the  instance  of  their  mother ;  and  Cumberland,  so 
far  as  his  motives  can  be  collected  from  his  introduction,  because 
he  lived  and  was  an  author.  If,  from  these,  we  recur  to  the 
account  given  of  himself,  by  our  own  Franklin,  we  shall  find, 
that,  although  addressed  to  his  son,  it  is  intended  for  the  wrorld  ; 
and  that  the  acknowledged  motives  to  it,  are  a  combination  of 
family  curiosity  and  personal  vanity,  with  the  desire  of  showing 
the  connexion  between  thrifty  youth  and  respectable  age — a  kind 
of  practical  comment  on  the  useful  truths,  contained  in  Poor 
Richard's  almanac. 

Next  to  the  good  fortune  of  having  figured  in  some  brilliant, 

active  career ;  of  having  been  the  companion  of  a  hero,  or  the 

depository  of  state  secrets;  of  having  seen  cities  and  men;  of 

having  wandered  "through  antres  vast,  and  deserts  idle,"  or  been 

2 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

the  subject  of  "  moving  accidents  by  flood  and  field ;"  the  avowed 
inducement  of  Mr.  Cumberland,  is  perhaps  the  most  plausible. 

Unfortunately,  for  the  person,  who,  here  presumes  to  appear 
before  the  public,  he  is  without  one  of  these  claims  to  attention. 
He  has  no  pretensions  to  fame  or  distinction  in  any  kind,  neither 
as  soldier,  nor  statesmen,  nor  traveller,  nor  author.  He  is  not 
wholly  without  hope,  ho\vever,  that  his  presumption  may  be  pal 
liated  ;  and  that,  in  his  object,  of  giving  a  representation  of  the 
character,  spirit  and  more  minute  occurrences  of  his  time,  it  will 
be  perceived,  that  there  is  no  form,  into  which  his  work  can  be 
thrown,  with  so  much  advantage,  as  into  that  of  personal  me 
moirs.  By  his  own  story,  if  he  is  not  misled  by  self-love,  a  kind 
of  menstruum  is  afforded,  for  the  incongruous  mass  of  his  mate 
rials,  serving  to  harmonize,  in  some  degree,  the  abrupt  transitions 
and  detached  details,  which,  a  delineation  of  the  various  incidents 
of  "many  coloured  life  "  requires. 

As  to  himself,  he  is  fully  conscious,  that 

it  matters  not, 
To  whom  related,  or  by  whom  begot; 

and,  therefore,  he  would  fain  buttress  his  undertaking,  by  the 
opinion  of  an  eminent  poet,  as  vouched  by  Mr.  Walpole,  viz. 
"  That  if  any  man  were  to  form  a  book,  of  what  he  had  seen  or 
heard  himself,  it  must,  in  whatever  hands,  prove  a  most  useful 
and  entertaining  one."  A  most  seducing  ignis-fatuus  truly,  con 
sidering  the  latitude  with  which  it  is  laid  down ! 

But,  far  from  wishing  to  forclose  the  reader  by  an  opinion,  which 
he  must  own  he  considers  a  very  questionable  one ;  or  to  lure  him 
on  to  an  expectation  of  what  he  might  vainly  seek  to  find,  he  an 
nounces  at  his  outset,  that  the  pages  here  set  before  him,  hold  out 
no  other  inducement  to  his  perusal,  than  such  as  may  arise  from 
the  fidelity  with  which  he  will  relate  incidents  within  the  scope  of 
ordinary  life ;  and  depict  some  occurrences,  which  came  under 
his  notice,  during  the  progress  of  the  revolution,  and  since  its  con 
summation.  In  doing  this,  he  will  have  occasion  to  speak  as  well 
of  others  as  himself.  He  may  sometimes  resort  to  motives  in  ac 
counting  for  men's  actions ;  and,  as  these  receive  their  qualities 


INTRODUCTION. 


15 


from  the  mind  of  the  agent,  he  will  with  equal  freedom  and  truth 
disclose  the  complexion  of  his  own,  having  little,  he  thinks,  no 
inclination  that  it  should  pass  for  better  than  it  is.  If  the  mould 
in  which  it  has  been  formed,  is  not  the  most  perfect,  so  neither, 
does  he  trust,  is  it  absolutely  the  most  worthless :  if  not  calculated 
to  produce  a  cast  to  the  taste  of  worldly  wisdom ;  one,  that  may 
advance  experimentally  the  sound  philosophy  of  thrift,  and  prac 
tically  mark  the  routes  to  private  wealth  and  public  greatness,  it 
will  yet  be  found  abundantly  fruitful,  in  negative  instruction  on 
both  points. 


16  BRISTOL. 


CHAPTER  I. 


Bristol. — The  Author's  account  of  his  family,  and  early  education. — Society 
of  Philadelphia. — Accident. — Family  history. — Quakers. — School  at  Bristol. — 
School  discipline. — Mr.  Dove. — Philadelphia  Academy. — Mr.  Kinnersley. — 
Anecdote. — Early  Adventure. — Author's  early  Character. — Ballad. — Death  of 
the  Author's  father. — Latin  School. — Mr.  Beveridge. — Anecdotes  of  Mr.  Beve 
ridge. — School  anecdote. — Singular  petition. — Beveridge's  poems. — Philadel 
phia. — Academy. — Author's  early  class-mates. 

MY  recollections  of  the  village  of  Bristol,  in  which  I  was  born 
on  the  10th  of  April,  N..  S.,  in  the  year  1752,  cannot  be  supposed 
to  go  farther  back  than  to  the  year  1756  or  1757.  There  are 
few  towns,  perhaps,  in  Pennsylvania,  which,  in  the  same  space  of 
time,  have  been  so  little  improved,  or  undergone  less  alteration.* 
Then,  as  now,f  the  great  road  leading  from  Philadelphia  to  New 
York,  first  skirting  the  inlet,  at  the  head  of  which  stand  the  mills, 
and  then  turning  short  to  the  left,  along  the  banks  of  the  Dela 
ware,  formed  the  principal  and  indeed  only  street,  marked  by  any 
thing  like  a  continuity  of  building.  A  few  places  for  streets, 
were  opened  from  this  main  one,  on  which,  here  and  there,  stood 
an  humble,  solitary  dwelling.  At  a  corner  of  two  of  these  lanes, 
was  a  Quaker  meeting  house ;  and  on  a  still  more  retired  spot, 
stood  a  small  Episcopal  church,  wrhose  lonely  grave  yard  with  its 

*  Just  about  the  time  of  writing  these  memoirs,  Bristol  took  a  start,  and  has 
since  become  a  place  of  fashionable  resort  during  the  summer  months,  to  which 
its  baths  and  chalybeate  waters,  together  with  its  convenience  to  the  inhabitants 
of  Philadelphia,  by  means  of  the  then  newly  invented  steamboats,  have,  no  doubtv 
principally  contributed. 

t  1811. 


BRISTOL.  17 

surrounding  woody  scenery,  might  have  furnished  an  appropriate 
theme  for  such  a  muse  as  Gray's.  These,  together  with  an  old 
brick  jail,  (Bristol  having  once  been  the  county  town  of  Bucks,) 
constituted  all  the  public  edifices  in  this  my  native  town.  Its 
site,  though  flat,  is  not  unpleasant,  particularly  along  the  bank  of 
the  Delaware,  rising  to  a  commanding  height  from  a  fair  and 
gravelly  margin.  Hence,  the  eye  might  rove  at  large  both  up 
and  down  the  river,  and  after  traversing  a  fine  expanse  of  wrater 
in  an  oblique  direction,  find  an  agreeable  resting  place  in  the  town 
of  Burlington  on  the  opposite  shore,* 

As  in  this  country,  there  is  little  temptation  to  the  tracing  of  a 
long  line  of  ancestry,  I  shall  content  myself  with  deducing  a  very 
brief  genealogy.  And  this,  not  so  much  perhaps,  from  an  ac 
quiescence  in  the  revolutionary  idea  of  the  insignificance  of  an 
illustrious  pedigree,  as  from  real  inability  to  produce  one.  I  can 
go  no  farther,  at  least,  than  to  vouch,  that  we  had  a  coat  of  arms 
in  the  family,  borne  about  on  the  body  of  an  old-fashioned  chaise, 
and  engraved  upon  our  spoons,  and  a  double-handled  caudle 
cup.  But  if  instead  of  groping  amidst  the  darkness  of  transatr 
lantic  heraldry,  we  confine  ourselves  to  our  own  shores,  which 
seems  much  the  most  congenial  to  the  noble  spirit  of  independence 
we  are  pleased  to  manifest  on  other  occasions,  I  am  warranted  in 
asserting,  that  I  am  descended  from  ancestors,  respectable  both 
as  to  station  and  character ;  from  a  stock  not  ignoble,  but  honest 
and  generous :  And  if  parental  propensities  are  transmitted  to  off-; 


*  Bristol,  in  1846,  is  the  largest  town  in  Bucks  county,  and  is  distant  twenty 
miles  from  Philadelphia.  "The  Delaware  branch  of  the  canal  from  Easton  ter 
minates  here  in  a  spacious  basin,  bringing-  to  the  place  an  extensive  coal  trade. 
The  Philadelphia  and  Trenton  Railroad  passes  in  the  rear  of  the  town.  Steam- 
boats  are  constantly  touching  at  the  landing."  Besides  the  Episcopal  church, 
above  mentioned,  and  Quaker  meeting  house,  there  is  now  a  Methodist  meeting 
house,  a  bank,  (the  Bank  of  Bucks  county,)  an  extensive  flouring  mill,  several 
hotels  and  stores.  "  The  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  place,  is  its  quiet 
ness  and  rural  beauty.  The  population  in  1840  was  1,438.  Scott,  in  his  geo 
graphy  published  in  180G,  says  that  Bristol,  at  that  time,  contained  90  houses. 
By  the  census  of  1800,  the  population  was  511;  in  1810,  628;  in  1820,  908; 
Bristol  was  incorporated  as  a  borough  by  Sir  William  Keith,  governor  of  the  pro: 
vince  of  Pennsylvania,  on  the  14th  of  November,  1720." — ED. 

2* 


J8 

spring  in  the  human  race,  but  in  half  the  degree  that  they  are 
among  quadrupeds,  the  value  we  may  be  disposed  to  set  on  vir 
tuous  progenitors,  is  very  far  from  chimerical.  Several  years 
residence  on  a  farm,  has  afforded  me  opportunity  for  some  ob 
servations  upon  the  nature  of  domestic  animals ;  and  I  have  found, 
what  I  should  have  been  disposed  to  laugh  at,  had  I  not  proved 
it,  that,  among  the  ox  kind  especially,  the  vices,  which  seemed 
mere  habits  of  the  female  parent,  have  invariably  descended  to 
her  offspring.  I  venture  this  remark,  though  not  quite  in  unison 
with  the  tone  of  the  subject ;  and  though  liable  to  be  strained 
into  an  assumption  of  worth  on  my  part,  to  which  I  may  in  fact 
be  wholly  destitute  of  pretension. 

My  father  was  an  Irishman,  and,  as  it  appears  from  some  im 
perfect  documents  in  my  possession,  came  to  this  country  in  the 
year  1730.  He  was  born,  I  think,  in  Longford,  and  was  brought 
up  under  the  care  of  his  maternal  grandfather  in  Dublin,  or  its 
neighbourhood.  Being  designed  for  the  pulpit,  he  had  received 
a  suitable  education,  to  which,  having  added  many  of  the  accom 
plishments  at  that  time  in  fashion,  he  was  distinguished  in  Phila 
delphia  both  as  a  scholar  and  a  gentleman.  It  was  not  long  since, 
that  the  late  chief  justice  Shippen  informed  me,  he  was  the  person 
always  appealed  to,  in  the  coffee-house  controversies  of  the  young 
men  of  the  day,  on  points  of  science  and  literature.  During  his 
presidency  of  the  county  courts  of  Bucks,  he  had  made  himself,  as 
I  have  understood,  a  very  tolerable  lawyer,  insomuch  that  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  he  was,  as  I  have  been  informed,  in  nomination 
for  the  office  of  a  judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  Pennsylvania. 
From  the  copies  of  letters  to  his  friends  in  Ireland,  soon  after  his 
arrival  in  Philadelphia,  he  appears  not  to  have  taken  up  very 
favourable  sentiments  of  its  inhabitants.  "Most  of  our  trading 
people  here,"  says  he,  "  are  complaisant  sharpers;  and  that 
maxim  in  trade,  to  think  every  man  a  knave,  until  the  contrary 
evidently  appears,  would  do  well  to  be  observed  here  if  any 
where. — In  this  province  we  have  a  toleration  for  all  religions, 
which  some  have  enlarged  so  far,  as  to  make  a  neglect  and  in 
difference  of  all  religion,  their  only  religion."  These  being  the 
opinions  of  a  young  man  but  of  about  two  and  twenty  years  of 


ACCIDENT.  19 

age,  it  is  not  improbable,  that  they  were  too  hastily  formed ;  but 
if,  unfortunately  for  the  honour  of  our  infant  metropolis,  they  were 
correct,  it  is  some  relief  to  hear,  that  mercantile  integrity,  joined 
to  genuine  and  unaffected  hospitality,  was  also  to  be  found  there, 
as  appears  from  the  following  extract  of  a  letter,  dated  the  18th 
of  March,  1731.  "  Soon  after  we  arrived  here,  it  happened,  and 
I  hope  providentially  for  us,  (himself  and  his  father-in-law,  Mr. 
Emerson,  who  made  one  family,)  that  we  rented  a  house  from  one 
Mr.  Peter  Baynton,  adjacent  to  his  own,  who  is  a  considerable 
merchant  in  this  city.  As  he  is  a  man  of  singular  sobriety,  and 
not  well  affected  to  the  reigning  humour  in  this  town,  he  has  ad 
mitted  us  into  his  chief  confidence,  and  distinguished  us  as  his 
principal  friends  and  associates,  insomuch  that  he  will  enter  upon 
no  project  or  design  in  trade,  without  admitting  us  to  a  share  in 
it:  and  from  the  success  of  some  wre  have  already  undertaken, 
we  have  not  the  least  room  to  doubt  of  his  sincerity  and  kind 
ness."  Such  is  my  father's  sketch  of  Philadelphia  manners 
eighty  years  ago.*  From  the  same  letter  it  appears,  that  at  the 
instance  of  this  Mr.  Baynton,  he  had  contemplated  with  him  a 
partnership  in  trade,  to  be  carried  on  in  the  town  of  Burlington, 
which,  he  observes,  "  though  it  be  now  somewhat  obscure,  it  has 
yet  many  advantages  capable  of  improvement." 

This  contemplated  removal,  however,  did  not  take  place.  He 
continued  in  business  in  Philadelphia,  and  in  the  war,  probably, 
with  Spain,  which  broke  out  in  the  year  1741,  was  concerned 
with  several  of  the  principal  merchants  in  that  city  in  building 
and  fitting  out  the  Tartar  privateer. f  This  vessel,  supposed  to 
be  the  finest,  as  she  was  the  largest,  that  had  at  that  time,  been 
built  on  the  Delaware,  had  a  singular  fate.  On  her  passage  to 
the  sea,  at  a  fine  season  of  the  year,  she  was  lost  in  the  bay.  To 
make  the  most  of  a  gentle  breeze  that  was  blowing,  she  was 

*  1731. 

t  Commanded  by  Capt.  Macky.  She  was  launched  24th  May,  1744.  More 
than  eighty  people  were  drowned,  among  whom  were  Mr.  Legate  of  New  Castle, 
Capt.  McKnight  of  Philadelphia,  and  Capt.  Bodeman.  She  was  a  sharp-built 
vessel,  and  out  of  all  proportion  rigged  and  masted,  and  under  ballasted.  She 
overset  in  a  moment  with  but  little  wind,  and  went  down  instantly.  Letter  31st 
July,  1774,  from  Lynford  Lardner  to  Richard  Penn. 


20  FAMILY  HISTORY. 

under  full  sail,  when  either  from  a  deficiency  of  ballast,  a  dispro 
portion  in  her  rigging,  or  some  other  fault  in  her  construction,  she 
was  almost  instantaneously  overturned  by  a  flaw  from  the  shore. 
The  greater  part  of  the  owners,  who  had  formed  a  party  to  see 
her  out  of  the  capes,  were  on  board,  and  among  them  my  father. 
So  mild  was  the  day,  and  so  little  cause  was  there  for  appre 
hension,  that  he  was  amusing  himself  on  deck  with  one  of  Mo- 
liere's  plays,  when  the  disaster  occurred.  Finding  himself  pre 
cipitated  among  the  waves,  he  immediately  seized  on  a  chest  that 
had  floated  from  the  vessel,  and  placing  himself  on  the  middle  of  it, 
its  extremities  served  to  support  a  sailor  on  each  side  of  him.  In 
this  situation,  they  were  driven  at  the  mercy  of  the  waves  for  a 
considerable  time,  without  any  prospect  of  relief.  They  were 
sometimes  about  to  quit  their  hold,  and  at  once  resign  themselves 
to  a  fate,  which  appeared  inevitable.  This  wras  peculiarly  the 
case  with  one  of  the  sailors,  whom  my  father  exerted  himself  to 
the  utmost  to  encourage,  since  if  he  had  abandoned  the  chest,  it 
would  have  lost  its  equilibrium,  and  in  the  weak,  exhausted  state 
in  which  they  were,  they  must  all  have  perished.  At  length,  a 
vessel  hove  in  sight  and  appeared  to  be  making  towards  them : 
It  proved  to  be  so,  and  they  were  taken  up  while  yet  enough  of 
vital  power  remained,  to  render  the  means  used  for  their  restora 
tion  efficacious.  The  captain,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  Tartar's  crew,  were  drowned,  as  were  most  of 
the  owners  that  were  on  board.  Although  I  have  heard  my  father 
relate  the  circumstances  of  this  misfortune,  and  have  since  heard 
it  spoken  of  in  the  family,  my  recollection  of  the  particulars  is 
very  imperfect. 

My  mother,  the  second  wife  of  my  father,  was  the  eldest  of 
four  daughters;  she  was  born  in  the  island  of  Barbadoes,  and 
when  about  seven  years  of  age,  was  brought  to  Philadelphia  by 
her  parents,  who  then  came  to  reside  in  that  city.  Her  father 
was  a  German,  born,  if  I  mistake  not,  in  Frankfort  on  the  Maine. 
He  had  been  engaged  in  trade  while  in  Barbadoes,  and  brought 
with  him  into  Pennsylvania,  a  pretty  good  property.  Her  mother 
was  from  Scotland,  having  first  drawn  breath  in  the  city  of  Glas 
gow  ;  but  by  what  means  a  pair  of  so  little  national  affinity  as 
these  my  grand  parents  on  the  mother's  side,  were  brought  to- 


FAMILY  HISTORY.  21 

gether,  I  never  learned.  From  their  conversation,  however,  I 
remember  they  had  resided  some  time  in  London,  previously  to 
their  settling  in  Barbadoes.  Notwithstanding  the  apparent  want 
of  associating  principles  in  some  respects,  they  yet  agreed  very 
well :  While  the  tongue  of  my  grandfather  faithfully  retained  the 
character  of  its  original  dialect,  that  of  his  spouse,  though  in  a 
less  degree,  bore  testimony  also,  to  the  country  of  her  extraction ; 
and  while  he,  a  determined  episcopalian,  had  his  pew  in  Christ's 
church,  she,  a  strict  presbyterian,  was  a  constant  attendant  at 
Buttonwood  meeting  house.  No  feuds,  however,  were  engen 
dered  by  this  want  of  religious  conformity ;  and  if  my  grandfather 
sometimes  consented  to  hear  a  sermon  at  the  meeting  house,  it 
might  be  considered  as  a  concession  on  his  part,  for  a  sermon  of 
archbishop  Tillotson,  which  was  regularly  read  aloud,  by  one  of 
the  family  on  Sunday  evening.  Though  a  loud  talker,  and  some 
what  rough  and  boisterous  in  his  manner,  the  old  gentleman  was  at 
bottom,  highly  liberal,  benevolent,  and  good  natured.  The  good 
lady,  on  the  other  hand,  was  rather  austere  ;  and  the  management  of 
her  family,  strongly  tinctured  with  the  primitive  discipline  of  her 
church.  Her  countenance,  on  Sunday,  always  assumed  an  un 
usual  degree  of  severity,  and  while  under  her  tutorage,  I  might 
truly  say,  in  the  meaning  of  the  poet,  it  shone  no  Sabbath  day  to 
me.  Then,  instead  of  rest,  my  labours  were  augmented ;  then 
chapters  were  to  be  read,  and  long  catechisms  to  be  conned  or 
repeated.  The  best  things  may  be  overdone  ;  and  the  imposition 
of  hard  and  unreasonable  tasks  is  more  apt  to  create  disgust,  than 
conciliation  to  instruction.  So,  at  least,  it  was  with  me:  I 
deemed  my  tutoress  unfeeling  and  tyrannical,  while,  by  her,  I 
was  considered  as  reprobate  and  incorrigible. 

Although  my  progenitors,  on  neither  side,  appear  to  have  pos 
sessed  the  talent  of  amassing  wealth,  there  is  a  circumstance  com 
mon  to  both,  which  seems  unequivocally  to  indicate  liberality  and 
sincerity  of  heart.  And  yet  it  is  a  circumstance,  which,  probably, 
would  have  escaped  me,  had  it  not  been  noticed  by  my  uncle, 
by  marriage,  the  late  judge  Biddle.*  Your  family,  said  he  one 

*  Edward  Biddle,  Esq.  WILKINSON,  in  his  "  Memoirs"  warmly  eulogizes  him. 
"He  was  a  man  whose  public  and  private  virtues  commanded  respect,  and  excited 


22  QUAKERS. 

day  to  me,  has  had  an  honour  which  has  happened  to  few,  that 
of  inducing  two  persons  wholly  unconnected  with  you,  to  at 
tach  themselves  to  you;  to  make  your  interests  their  own,  and 
without  contract  or  pecuniary  tie,  to  remain  with  you  till  their 
deaths.  One  of  these  was  a  Scotchman,  of  the  name  of  Thomas 
Gordon,  who  came  into  my  grandfather's  service  in  Philadelphia, 
in  the  capacity  of  a  clerk,  continued  with  him  after  he  had  de 
clined  business,  and  remained  among  us  long  after  his  death, 
until  the  time  of  his  own  decease,  which  happened  at  Reading, 
in  the  year  1777.  He  was  born  in  Aberdeen,  and  had  been  bred 
to  business  in  a  counting-house  at  Rotterdam.  He  never  was 
married.  In  his  latter  days,  he  became  a  perfect  clock  in  regu 
larity;  was  a  truly  honest  man,  and  what  will  be  thought  still 
better  by  many,  he  was  a  genuine  whig  of  seventy-six,  though 
too  old  or  infirm  to  carry  arms  in  the  revolutionary  contest.  The 
other,  was  a  maiden  lady  of  the  society  of  friends,  who,  upon 
occasion  of  my  mother  being  in  want  of  a  female  domestic,  offered 
to  assist  her  for  a  short  time,  came  into  the  family  soon  after  I 
was  born,  and  never  left  it  until  taken  from  us  by  death,  at  an 
advanced  age,  in  the  year  1794.  Her  name  was  Ann  Burgess ; 
she  was  a  woman  of  good  understanding  and  reputably  con 
nected. 

1  With  the  exception  of  the  family  of  Doctor  Denormandie,  our 
own,  and  perhaps  one  or  two  more,  the  principal  inhabitants  of 
Bristol  were  Quakers.  Among  these,  the  names  of  Buckley,  Wil 
liams,  Large,  Meritt,  Hutchinson  and  Church,  are  familiar  to  me. 
The  last,  bred  to  the  trade  of  a  cooper,  but  who  had  put  his  son 
in  the  business,  and  employed  himself  more  in  the  management 

admiration  from  all  persons :  He  was  speaker  of  the  last  assembly  of  Penn 
sylvania  under  the  proprietory  government,  and  in  the  dawn  of  the  Revolution 
devoted  himself  to  the  cause  of  his  country,  and  successfully  opposed  the  over 
bearing  influences  of  Joseph  Galloway:  ardent,  eloquent,  and  full  of  zeal,  by  his 
exertions,  during-  several  days  and  nights  of  obstinate,  warm  and  animated  discus 
sion,  in  extreme  sultry  weather,  he  overheated  himself,  and  brought  on  an  inflam 
matory  rheumatism,  which  radically  destroyed  his  health,  and  ultimately  de 
prived  society  of  one  of  its  greatest  ornaments,  and  his  country  of  a  statesman, 
a  patriot  and  a  soldier;  for  he  had  served  several  campaigns  in  the  war  of  1756, 
and  if  his  health  had  been  spared,  would,  no  doubt,  have  occupied  the  second  or 
third  place  in  the  Revolutionary  armies." — ED. 


QUAKERS.  23 

of  a  small  farm  and  nursery  of  fruit  trees,  was  a  sincere  and  steady 
friend  to  our  family.  He  was  married  to  the  sister  of  Ann  Bur 
gess,  just  mentioned,  and  was  a  very  wrorthy  man,  possessing  a 
good  natural  understanding,  with  a  strong  addiction  to  philo 
sophical  speculations.  His  attachment  to  my  father  went  beyond 
friendship :  it  reached  to  admiration  and  veneration.  He  thought 
him,  as  he  has  often  told  me,  one  of  the  best  and  wisest  men 
that  ever  lived.  I  never  knew  him  do  a  foolish  thing,  said  he, 
but  once.  Upon  my  asking  him  what  that  was ;  it  was,  said  he, 
on  occasion  of  some  worthless  fellow  reporting  that  he  had  seen 
one  or  more  Indians  in  the  swamp  beyond  the  church,  assembling . 
a  body  of  the  militia,  of  which  he  was  colonel,*  and  marching 
out  with  drums  beating,  and  colours  flying,  against  the  supposed 
enemy.  But  this  instance  is  equivocal.  Whether  my  father  gave 
credit  to  the  report  or  not,  others  might,  and  no  doubt  did  be 
lieve  it :  It  was  also  incumbent  on  him  to  be  alert ;  to  inculcate 
that  duty  upon  his  men,  and  to  inure  them  to  alarms :  and  although 
more  silence,  and  less  parade,  might  have  been  more  truly  mili 
tary,  yet  something  of  the  "pride,  pomp,  and  circumstance  of 
glorious  war,"  is  allowable  to  militia,  particularly  to  a  body 
which  had  certainly  never  encountered  an  enemy.  Besides,  to 
the  calm  incredulity  of  friend  Church  upon  this  occasion,  we 
might  perhaps  safely  add,  a  little  both  of  the  spirit  of  party  and 
of  quakerism.  The  people  of  his  society,  from  principles  averse 
from  war,  were  charged  with  being  too  friendly  to  the  Indians ; 
with  being  too  ready  to  palliate  their  enormities,  and  conse 
quently,  indisposed  to  listen  to  the  alarming  accounts,  which  the 
panic  produced  by  Braddock's  defeat,  had  spread  throughout  the 
country.  By  this  event,  every  obstacle  to  their  incursions  being 
removed,  in  the  minds  of  the  timid  they  were  to  be  looked  for 


*  In  Franklin  and  Hall's  Gazette  of  February  9th,  1747,  eight  of  the  officers  of 
Bucks  county  it  is  there  stated — Alexander  Graydon,  Captain;  Anthony  Denor- 
mandie,  Lieutenant ;  James  Barker,  Ensign.  In  the  same  paper  of  the  15th  March, 
same  year,  it  is  farther  stated — Superior  officers  of  a  regiment  in  Bucks  county, 
Alexander  Graydon,  Esq.,  Colonel,  -Matthew  Hughes,  Esq.,  Lieutenant  Colonel ; 
John  Denormandie,  Esq.,  Major.  He  was  also  recommended  in  a  nomination 
for  a  field  officer  in  the  Provincial  Corps  raising  in  1758,  but  he  declined  the  ap 
pointment.  See  his  letter  in  Appendix. 


24 


DOVE. 


every  where.  From  the  consternation  that  prevailed,  I  can  still 
recollect,  that  the  horrors  of  a  discomfiture  by  such  a  foe,  were 
among  my  most  early  and  lively  impressions.  To  the  terrors  of 
the  tomahawk  and  the  scalping  knife,  the  imagination  adds  the 
savage  yells,  the  gloomy  woods  and  dismal  swamps,  which  are 
their  usual  accompaniments;  and,  hence,  minds  that  have  been 
deeply  impressed  by  the  fatal  fields  of  Braddock  and  St.  Clair, 
are  well  prepared  for  the  sombre  interest  imparted  by  Tacitus's 
affecting  description  of  that  of  Varus,  visited  after  an  interval  of 
six  years,  by  Germanicus : — Occulta  saltuum,  mcestos^  locos ,  visuque 
ac  memoria  deformes.  Medio  campi  albentia  ossa}  utfugemnt,  ut 
restiterunt  disjecta  vel  agger ata.  "  Those  deep  and  dreary  re 
cesses,  hideous  both  to  sight  and  memory ;  with  the  whitening 
bones,  scattered  or  heaped  together,  as  either  they  belonged  to 
those  who  fell  in  flight,  or  met  their  fate  resisting." 

There  being  no  traces  in  my  memory,  of  any  incidents  worthy 
of  remark,  during  the  period  of  my  infancy,  I  pass  on  to  the  era 
of  my  removal  to  Philadelphia,  for  the  sake  of  my  education. 
This,  I  suppose  to  have  been,  between  my  sixth  and  seventh 
year.  I  recollect  little  or  nothing  of  going  to  school  at  Bristol, 
farther  than  that  there  was  one,  and  the  master's  name  Pinker- 
ton,  a  kind,  good  humoured  Irishman,  from  whom  I  might  have 
learned,  that  as  one  thing  was  cruel  big,  so  another  might  be  cruel 
little.  In  the  city,  I  lived  with,  and  was  under  the  care  of  my 
grandfather.  The  school  he  first  put  me  to,  was  that  of  David 
James  Dove,  an  Englishman,  and  much  celebrated  in  his  day,  as 
a  teacher,  and  no  less  as  a  dealer  in  the  minor  kind  of  satirical 
poetry.  To  him  were  attributed  some  political  effusions  in  this 
way,  which  were  thought  highly  of  by  his  party,  and  made  a  good 
deal  of  noise.  He  had  also  made  some  figure,  it  seems,  in  the 
old  world,  being  spoken  of,  as  I  have  heard,  though  in  what  way 
I  know  not,  having  never  seen  the  work,  in  a  book,  entitled — The 
Life  and  Adventures  of  the  Chevalier  Taylor.*  As  the  story  went, 

*  This  was  Taylor  the  occulist,  spoken  of  in  Boswell's  life  of  Johnson,  and 
who,  though  sprightly,  was,  according  to  the  doctor,  an  instance  how  far  impu 
dence  could  carry  ignorance.  He  challenged  me  once  to  talk  Latin  with  him, 
says  the  doctor.  I  quoted  some  of  Horace,  which  he  took  to  be  my  own  speech. 
He  said  a  few  words  well  enough. 


SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE.  25 

some  one  reading  this  performance  to  Mr.  Dove  on  its  first  ap 
pearance,  with  the  mischievous  design  of  amusing  himself  at  his 
expense,  as  he  knew  what  the  book  contained,  he  (Dove)  bore 
testimony  to  the  truth  of  the  contents,  with  which,  he  said,  he 
was  perfectly  acquainted,  exclaiming,  as  the  reader  went  along, 
true,  true  as  the  gospel!  but  when  the  part  was  reached,  in  which 
he  himself  is  introduced  in  a  situation  somewhat  ridiculous,  he 
cried  out,  it  was  a  lie,  a  most  abominable  lie,  and  that  there  was 
not  a  syllable  of  truth  in  the  story.  At  any  rate,  Dove  was  a  hu 
mourist,  and  a  person  not  unlikely  to  be  engaged  in  ludicrous 
scenes.  It  was  his  practice  in  his  school,  to  substitute  disgrace 
for  corporal  punishment.  His  birch  was  rarely  used  in  canonical 
method,  but  was  generally  stuck  into  the  back  part  of  the  collar 
of  the  unfortunate  culprit,  who,  with  this  badge  of  disgrace  tow 
ering  from  his  nape  like  a  broom  at  the  mast-head  of  a  vessel  for 
sale,  was  compelled  to  take  his  stand  upon  the  top  of  the  form, 
for  such  a  period  of  time,  as  his  offence  was  thought  to  deserve. 
He  had  another  contrivance  for  boys  who  were  late  in  their  morn 
ing  attendance.  This  was  to  despatch  a  committee  of  five  or  six 
scholars  for  them,  with  a  bell  and  lighted  lantern,  and  in  this 
"odd  equipage,"  in  broad  day  light,  the  bell  all  the  while  ting 
ling,  were  they  escorted  through  the  streets  to  school.  As  Dove 
affected  a  strict  regard  to  justice  in  his  dispensations  of  punish 
ment,  and  always  professed  a  willingness,  to  have  an  equal  mea 
sure  of  it  meted  out  to  himself  in  case  of  his  transgressing,  the 
boys  took  him  at  his  word  ;  and  one  morning,  when  he  had  over- 
staid  his  time,  either  through  laziness,  inattention,  or  design,  he 
found  himself  waited  on  in  the  usual  form.  He  immediately  ad 
mitted  the  justice  of  the  procedure,  and  putting  himself  behind 
the  lantern  and  bell,  inarched  with  great  solemnity  to  school,  to 
the  no  small  gratification  of  the  boys,  and  entertainment  of  the 
spectators.  But  this  incident  took  place  before  I  became  a  scho 
lar.  It  was  once  my  lot  to  be  attended  in  this  manner,  but  wrhat 
had  been  sport  to  my  tutor,  was  to  me  a  serious  punishment. 

The  school  was,  at  this  time,  kept  in  Videli's  alley,  which 

opened  into  Second,  a  little  below  Chesnut  street.     It  counted,  a 

number  of  scholars  of  both  sexes,  though  chiefly  boys ;  and  the 

assistant,  or  writing  master,  was  John  Reily,  a  very  expert  pen- 

3 


26  ACADEMY DOVE CHARLES  THOMSON. 

man  and  conveyancer,  a  man  of  some  note,  who,  in  his  gayer 
moods  affected  a  pompous  and  technical  phraseology,  as  he  is 
characterized  under  the  name  of  Parchment,  in  a  farce  written 
some  forty  years  ago,  and  which,  having  at  least  the  merit  of  no 
velty  and  personality,  was  a  very  popular  drama,  though  never 
brought  upon  the  stage.  Some  years  afterwards,  Dove  removed 
to  Germantown,  where  he  erected  a  large  stone  building,  in  the 
view  of  establishing  an  academy  upon  a  large  scale ;  but  I  be 
lieve  his  success  was  not  answerable  to  his  expectations.  I  know 
not  what  my  progress  was  under  the  auspices  of  Mr.  Dove,  but 
having  never  in  my  early  years,  been  smitten  with  the  love  of 
learning,  I  have  reason  to  conclude,  it  did  not  pass  mediocrity. 
I  recollect  a  circumstance,  however,  which  one  afternoon  took 
place  at  my  grandfather's,  to  the  no  small  entertainment  of  the  old 
gentleman,  who  often  adverted  to  it  afterwards.  Dove  was  there, 
and  in  endeavouring  to  correct  my  utterance,  as  I  had  an  ill  habit 
of  speaking  with  my  teeth  closed,  as  if  indifferent  whether  I  spoke 
or  not,  he  bawled  out  in  one  of  his  highest  tones:  "  Why  don't 
you  speak  louder  ?  open  your  mouth  like  a  Dutchman — say 
yaw."* 

Being  now,  probably,  about  eight  years  of  age,  it  was  deemed 
expedient  to  enter  me  at  the  academy,  then,  as  it  now  continues 

*  This  DOVE  was  a  satirical  poet,  and  has  been  described  by  Judge  Peters,  an 
early  pupil  of  his,  as  a  "sarcastical  and  ill-tempered  doggerelizer,  who  was  but 
ironically  Dove  ;  for  his  temper  was  that  of  a  hawk,  and  his  pen  the  beak  of  a  fal 
con  pouncing  on  innocent  prey." 

He  became,  says  Watson,  a  teacher  of  languages  in  the  Philadelphia  Acade 
my,  and  was  chiefly  conspicuous  for  the  part  he  took  in  the  politics  of  the  day, 
and  by  his  caustic  rhymes  in  ridicule  of  his  opponents,  he  wrote  poetical  illus 
trations  to  accompany  the  caricatures  which  abounded  in  his  time,  and  was,  him 
self,  in  turn,  a  rich  subject  for  the  caricaturist.  Watson  records  a  characteristic 
anecdote  of  Charles  Thomson,  secretary  to  the  Congress  of  1776.  When  young, 
Thomson  resided  in  the  family  of  Dove,  who,  with  his  wife,  was  much  addicted 
to  scandal,  a  propensity  in  the  highest  degree  offensive  to  the  honourable  nature 
of  the  future  secretary.  Wishing  to  leave  them,  but  dreading  their  tongues,  he 
adopted  an  ingenious  expedient  to  prevent  their  injurious  exercise.  He  gravely 
inquired  of  them  one  evening,  if  his  conduct,  as  a  boarder,  had  been  satisfactory 
to  them.  They  promptly  replied  in  the  affirmative.  Would  you,  then,  asked 
Thomson,  be  willing  to  give  me  a  certificate  to  that  effect  ?  "  O,  certainly."  A 
certificate  was  accordingly  given,  and  the  next  day  he  parted  from  them  in 
peace. — ED. 


ANECDOTE.  27 

to  be,  under  the  name  of  a  university,  the  principal  seminary  iu 
Pennsylvania;  and  I  was  accordingly  introduced  by  my  father,  to 
Mr.  Kinnesley,  the  teacher  of  English  and  professor  of  oratory. 
He  was  an  Anabaptist  clergyman,  a  large,  venerable  looking  man, 
of  no  great  general  erudition,  though  a  considerable  proficient  in 
electricity ;  and  who,  whether  truly  or  not,  has  been  said  to  have 
had  a  share  in  certain  discoveries  in  that  science,  of  which  Doc 
tor  Franklin  received  the  whole  credit.  The  task,  of  the  younger 
boys,  at  least,  consisted  in  learning  to  read  and  to  write  their  mo 
ther  tongue  grammatically ;  and  one  day  in  the  week  (I  think 
Friday)  was  set  apart  for  the  recitation  of  select  passages  in  poetry 
and  prose.  For  this  purpose,  each  scholar,  in  his  turn,  ascended 
the  stage,  and  said  his  speech,  as  the  phrase  was.  This  speech 
was  carefully  taught  him  by  his  master,  both  with  respect  to  its 
pronunciation,  and  the  action  deemed  suitable  to  its  several  parts. 
Two  of  these  specimens  of  infantile  oratory  to  the  disturbance  of 
my  repose,  I  had  been  qualified  to  exhibit:  Family  partiality,  no 
doubt,  overrated  their  merit ;  and  hence,  my  declaiming  powers 
were  in  a  state  of  such  constant  requisition,  that  my  orations,  like 
worn  out  ditties,  became  vapid  and  fatiguing  to  me ;  and  conse 
quently,  impaired  my  relish  for  that  kind  of  acquirement.  More 
profit  attended  my  reading.  After  ^Esop's  fables,  and  an  abridge 
ment  of  the  Roman  history,  Telemachus  \vas  put  into  our  hands ; 
and  if  it  be  admitted  that  the  human  heart  may  be  bettered  by 
instruction,  mine,  I  may  aver,  was  benefited  by  this  work  of  the 
virtuous  Fenelon.  While  the  mild  wisdom  of  Mentor  called 
forth  my  veneration,  the  noble  ardour  of  the  youthful  hero  excited 
my  sympathy  and  emulation.  I  took  part,  like  a  second  friend, 
in  the  vicissitudes  of  his  fortune,  I  participated  in  his  toils,  I 
warmed  with  his  exploits,  I  wept  where  he  wept,  and  exulted 
where  he  triumphed. 

As  my  lot  has  been  cast  in  a  turbulent  period,  in  a  season  of 
civil  war  and  revolution,  succeeded  by  scenes  of  domestic  discord 
and  fury,  in  all  of  which  I  have  been  compelled  to  take  a  part,  I 
deem  it  of  consequence  to  myself,  to  bespeak  toleration  for  the 
detail  of  a  school-boy  incident,^  that  may  in  some  degree  serve  to 
develope  my  character.  It  may  equally  tend  to  throw  some  light 
on  the  little  world,  upon  whose  stage  I  had  now  entered.  A  few 


28 


ANECDOTE. 


days  after  I  had  been  put  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Kinnersley,  I  was 
told  by  my  class-mates,  that  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  fight  a 
battle  with  some  one,  in  order  to  establish  my  claim  to  the  ho 
nour  of  being  an  academy  boy:  that  this  could  not  be  dispensed  with, 
and  that  they  would  select  for  me  a  suitable  antagonist,  one  of  my 
match,  whom  after  school  I  must  fight,  or  be  looked  upon  as  a 
coward.  I  must  confess,  that  I  did  not  at  all  relish  the  proposal. 
Though  possessing  a  sufficient  degree  of  spirit,  or  at  least  irasci 
bility,  to  defend  myself  when  assaulted,  I  had  never  been  a  boxer. 
Being  of  a  light  and  slender  make,  I  was  not  calculated  for  the 
business,  nor  had  I  ever  been  ambitious  of  being  the  cock  of  a 
school.  Besides,  by  the  laws  of  the  institution  I  was  now  a  subject 
of,  fighting  was  a  capital  crime ;  a  sort  of  felony  deprived  of 
clergy,  whose  punishment  was  not  to  be  averted  by  the  most 
scholar-like  reading.  For  these  reasons,  both  of  which  had  suffi 
cient  weight  with  me,  and  the  last  not  the  least,  as  I  had  never 
been  a  wilful  transgressor  of  rules,  or  callous  to  the  consequences 
of  an  infraction  of  them,  I  absolutely  declined  the  proposal ;  al 
though  I  had  too  much  of  that  feeling  about  me,  wiiich  some 
might  call  false  honour,  to  represent  the  case  to  the  master,  which 
would  at  once  have  extricated  me  from  my  difficulty,  and  brought 
down  condign  punishment  on  its  imposers.  Matters  thus  went 
on  until  school  was  out,  when  I  found  that  the  lists  were  appoint 
ed,  and  that  a  certain  John  Appowen,  a  lad  who,  though  not  quite 
so  tall,  yet  better  set  and  older  than  myself,  was  pitted  against  me. 
With  increased  pertinacity  I  again  refused  the  combat,  and  insist 
ed  on  being  permitted  to  go  home  unmolested.  On  quickening 
my  pace  for  this  purpose,  my  persecutors,  with  Appowen  at  their 
head,  followed  close  at  my  heels.  Upon  this  I  moved  faster  and 
faster,  until  my  retreat  became  a  flight  too  unequivocal  and  in 
glorious  for  a  man  to  relate  of  himself,  had  not  Homer  furnished 
some  apology  for  the  procedure,  in  making  the  heroic  Hector 
thrice  encircle  the  walls  of  Troy,  before  he  could  find  courage  to 
encounter  the  implacable  Achillus.  To  cut  the  story  short,  my 
spirit  could  no  longer  brook  an  oppression  so  intolerable,  and 
stung  to  the  quick  at  the  term  coward  which  was  lavished  upon 
me,  I  made  a  halt  and  faced  my  pursuers.  A  combat  immedi 
ately  ensued  between  Appowen  and  myself,  which  for  some  time, 


EAKLY  ADVENTURE.  29 

was  maintained  on  each  side,  with  equal  vigour  and  determina 
tion,  when  unluckily,  I  received  his  fist  directly  in  my  gullet. 
The  blow  for  a  time  depriving  me  of  breath,  and  the  power  of  re 
sistance,  victory  declared  for  my  adversary,  though  not  without 
the  acknowledgment  of  the  party,  that  I  had  at  last  behaved  well, 
and  shown  myself  not  unworthy  the  name  of  an  academy  boy. 
Being  thus  established,  I  had  no  more  battles  imposed  upon  me, 
and  none  that  I  can  recollect  of  my  own  provoking;  for  I  have  a 
right  to  declare,  that  my  general  deportment  was  correct  and  un 
offending,  though  extremely  obstinate  and  unyielding  under  a 
sense  of  injustice.*  I  gave  an  early  instance  of  this,  in  once 
burning  the  rod  with  which  my  father  had  corrected  me ;  and 
upon  his  finding  it  out,  and.  correcting  me  a  second  time,  I  de 
clared  I  would  drowa  myself,  and  ran  towards  a  creek  in  a 
meadow  not  far  off,  with  such  an  appearance  of  determination  to 
execute  the  threat,  that  he  thought  proper  to  despatch  a  servant 
after  me  in  haste ;  and  upon  my  being  brought  back,  rather  to 
yield  to  the  violence  of  my  temper,  than  persist  in  the  attempt  to- 
subdue  it. 

In  saying  my  resistance  proceeded  from  a  sense  of  injustice,  I 
would  by  no  means  have  it  understood,  that  my  father  had  been 
culpable.  I  rather  suppose,  that  a  too  ardent  idea  of  the  rights  of 
a  child,  had  led  rue  to  consider  that  conduct  oppressive,  which 
was  merely  the  effect  of  a  paternal  concern  for  my  welfare. 

While  upon  the  topic  of  those  early  adventures,  by  which  we 
are  initiated  into  the  ways  of  the  world,  I  may  mention  a  circum 
stance  of  another  nature,  which  happened  not  very  long  after  my 
arrival  in  the  city.  One  evening  about  dusk,  I  was  amusing  myself 
on  the  pavement  before  the  door,  with  some  marbles ;  for  having 
never  been  very  strongly  incited  by  a  spirit  of  gambling,  I  fre 
quently  played  alone,  and  even  when  I  had  a  companion  I  gene- 

*  The  poignancy  of  my  feelings  on  such  occasions,  has  given  me  a  degree  of 
veneration  for  justice  which  I  have  rarely  discovered  in  others.  Nor  has  my 
own  interest  or  that  of  my  connexions  or  country,  ever  led  me  to  espouse  their 
cause,  when  unsupported  by  right  Hence,  I  can  never  be  a  patriot  in  the  mo 
dern  acceptation  of  the  word;  more  especially,  as  in  sifting  the  merits  of  a  cause, 
I  have  a  most  unlucky  propensity  of  referring  all  acts  of  subsequent  aggression 
to  the  original  wrong.  A  monstrous  supererogation  of  morality  this,  in  the  eyes 
of  orthodox  patriotism. 

3* 


30 


EARLY  CHARACTER. 


rally  preferred  playing  in  fun,  to  speak  technically,  to  playing  in 
earnest.  A  little,  skulking  rogue,  with  whom  I  had  no  kind  of 
acquaintance,  came  up  to  me,  and  as  he  joined  me  in  play  with 
some  marbles  of  his  own,  he  took  occasion  to  observe,  that  his 
were  too  small  for  him,  but  as  mine,,  on  the  contrary,  were  large 
and  exactly  suited  to  his  hand,  he  proposed  an  exchange,  offering 
me  the  odds,  first,  of  two,  and  then  of  three  for  one.  Having  no 
disposition  to  traffic  with  him,  being  pleased  with  my  own  and 
satisfied  with  their  number,  I  at  first  objected  to  his  proposal,  but 
he  pressed  me  in  so  earnest  a  manner  to  accommodate  him  with 
but  a  part  of  mine,  that  after  some  hesitation,  I  consented.  With 
out  giving  me  time  for  a  resumption  of  my  first  determination,  he 
picked  up  six  or  eight  of  my  marbles,  and  throwing  me  down  three 
or  four  times  the  number  of  his  own,  the  amount  of  boot  being 
apparently  wholly  unworthy  of  calculation,  he  decamped  in  a 
twinkling.  Upon  gathering  up  the  commodities  I  had  received  in 
such  abundance,  I  found  them  rather  light ;  and  on  closer  inspec 
tion,  discovered,  that  as  they  had  been  but  clay  in  the  hands  of 
the  potter,  so  I  had  been  an  equally  ductile  material  in  the  hands 
of  a  swindler.  These  things  are  but  puerilities,  and  very  trifles,  it 
is  true,  but  can  it  be  said  that  they  are  irrelative  to  the  objects  I 
set  out  with  ?  And  are  they  not  prototypes  of  the  transactions, 
which  the  more  important  scene  of  man  every  day  exhibits  ?  If 
swindling  and  oppression  beset  us  in  infancy,  does  experience 
warrant  us  in  affirming  that  the  state  of  manhood  is  exempt  from 
them  ? 

Might  I  here  be  pardoned  a  brief  recognition  of  the  qualities  my 
childhood  had  unfolded,  I  might  say,  that,  with  a  sufficient  share 
of  obstinacy  and  impatience  of  control,  I  had  never  manifested  a 
propensity  to  mischief;  and  though  I  might  sometimes  have  been 
a  follower,  I  had  never  promoted  or  been  a  leader  in  those  pranks 
which  are  denominated  unlucky:  Thank  Heaven,  I  had  never  been 
guilty  of  a  trick,  and  rarely,  if  ever,  of  a  lie.  I  had  no  cunning, 
and  consequently,  gave  no  token  of  those  talents  which  might 
qualify  me,  one  day,  to  rise  in  a  commonwealth.  On  a  scrutiny, 
therefore,  of  my  character,  the  possibility  might  have  been  inferred, 
that  in  an  evil  hour  and  at  a  riper  age,  my  passions  might  have  hur 
ried  me  into  acts  of  fatal  rashness,  as,  under  better  stars,  they  might 


EARLY  CHARACTER.  31 

have  impelled  me  into  the  path  of  a  Hampden ;  but,  that  in  no 
situation,  I  could  have  trod  the  track  of  a  Gracchus  or  a  Drusus. 

The  Gracchi  fond  of  mischief  making  laws, 
And  Drusi  popular  in  faction's  cause. 

Neither  could  the  unshrinking  determination  which  must  enter  into 
the  composition  of  a  Brutus,  have  justly  been  imputed  to  me ;  not 
even  on  the  specious  ground  of  public  good:  my  stuff  was  not  so 
stern. 

My  amusements,  as  I  have  already  said,  depended  much  upon 
myself.  I  had  a  passion  for  drawing ;  and  my  early  essays  were 
considered  as  indications  of  much  genius  for  the  art.  I  was  in 
the  practice  also,  of  cutting  men  and  horses  out  of  cards.  By 
separating  the  legs  of  the  bipeds,  I  mounted  them  without  diffi 
culty  ;  and  by  a  similar  process  on  those  of  the  quadrupeds,  I 
could  give  them  a  firm  stand  on  a  table.  By  these  means  I  could 
either  send  them  a  hunting  with  a  pack  of  hounds,  in  like  manner 
set  upon  their  feet,  or  attach  unmounted  horses  to  sleighs  or  wheel 
carriages  (all  of  which  I  manufactured)  at  pleasure.  My  talent 
also  gave  me  the  command  of  regiments  of  cavalry,  and  my  even 
ings,  when  there  was  no  company,  were  generally  employed  in  ar 
ranging  them  in  order  of  battle.  Divided  into  two  bodies,  they  were 
disposed  in  hostile  array,  while  round  pieces  of  card  representing 
cannon  balls,  were  the  missiles  alternately  thrown  at  the  different 
corps;  that  side  being  held  to  be  defeated,  which  was  first  battered 
down.  It  was  truly  a  wrar  of  extermination,  as  the  vanquished 
were  always  cut  off  to  a  man.  Both  my  grandfather  and  grand 
mother,  as  well  as  my  aunts,  wrere  pleased  with  my  exhibitions  ; 
and  it  became  a  matter  of  doubt  in  the  family,  whether  my  genius 
most  inclined  me  to  the  profession  of  a  limner  or  a  general. 

Music,  too,  was  an  art  for  which  I  had  discovered  a  propensity, 
and  had  already  the  enthusiasm  of  an  amateur.  From  the  drums 
and  fifes  of  Otway's  regiment,  which  every  morning  passed  our 
door,  I  had,  among  other  tunes,  learned  the  grenadier's  march ;  and 
I  remember  one  day  being  on  a  visit  to  my  father,  who  then 
resided  in  the  country  at  a  place  of  Doctor  Denormandie's,  as  I 
was  whistling  it  with  great  devotion,  and  marching  to  it  in  proper 
time,  he  was  delighted  with  the  truth  of  my  ear  and  the  correctness 


32  ADDISON BALLAD. 

of  my  performance:  For  he  was  much  of  a  musical  man,  and 
played  upon  the  violin,  though,  as  I  have  been  informed  by  one 
of  his  old  friends,  with  more  of  science  than  execution. 

Another  circumstance  of  some  affinity  to  the  topic,  I  cannot 
withhold,  since  it  is  an  evidence  of  my  coincidence  in  taste  with 
the  celebrated  Mr.  Addison.  I  have  somewhere  seen  it  mentioned, 
that  he  was  a  warm  admirer  of  the  ballad  of  Salley  of  the  alley.  I 
once,  when  very  young,  heard  my  mother  sing  it  over  a  cradle, 
and  was  so  enraptured  with  its  simple  pathos,  that  I  was  continually 
importuning  her  to  repeat  it.  Whether  it  was  the  composition  or 
the  melody  which  had  charmed  me,  I  know  not,  but  to  my  infant 
heart  it  appeared  inimitably  tender  and  affecting.  The  only  verse 
I  recollect  of  it  is  the  following : — 

Of  all  the  days  within  the  week, 

I  dearly  love  but  one  day, 

And  that's  the  day  that  comes  between. 

Saturday  and  Monday  : 

For  then  I'm  drest 

All  in  by  best, 
To  walk  abroad  with  Sally,. 
She  is  the  darling  of  my  heart 
And  lives  in  our  alley. 

Though  an  old  ballad,  it  is  possible  that  it  may  be  yet  so  well 
known  as  to  render  this  recital  unnecessary,  if  not  to  give  it  an 
appearance  of  triteness.  At  any  rate,  I  should  hardly  have  ven 
tured  to  notice  it  had  it  not  been  dignified  by  the  approbation  of 
a  respectable  name.* 

*  The  author  of  the  Ballad  was  Henry  Carey,  translator  of  Dante,  and  a  popu 
lar  English  poet.  "  The  works  of  Carey  do  not  appear  in  any  of  our  great  col 
lections,  where  Walsh,  Duke,  and  Yalden  slumber  on  the  shelf.  Yet  Carey  was 
a  true  son  of  the  muses,  and  a  most  successful  writer.  To  this  ballad  of '  Sally  in 
our  alley,'  he  prefixed  an  argument  so  full  of  nature,  that  the  song  may  derive 
an  additional  interest  from  its  simple  origin.  The  author  assures  the  reader  that 
the  popular  notion,  that  the  subject  of  his  ballad  had  been  the  noted  Sally  Salis 
bury,  is  perfectly  erroneous,  he  being  a  stranger  to  her  name  at  the  time  the  song 
was  composed. 

"As  innocence  and  virtue  were  ever  the  boundaries  of  his  muse,  so  in  this  little 
poem  he  had  no  other  view  than  to  set  forth  the  beauty  of  a  chaste  and  disinte 
rested  passion  even  in  the  lowest  class  of  human  life.  The  real  occasion  was  this : 


33 

It  was  some  time  before  my  entering  into  the  Latin  school,  that 
I  had  the  misfortune  to  loose  my  father.  This  was  in  March, 
1761.  He  had  just  finished  a  country  house  on  a  favourite  spot, 
sufficiently  elevated  to  overlook  the  adjacent  district  for  some 
miles  round,  and  to  command  a  view  of  the  town  of  Bristol,  dis 
tant  not  quite  a  mile,  as  well  as  that  of  Burlington,  together  with 
an  extensive  intervening  tract  of  meadow  ground,  stretching  to 
the  shore  of  the  Delaware,  wrhose  bright  expanse  was  also  subject 
ed  to  the  eye.  He  had  long  been  improving  the  site  before  he 
began  to  build ;  had  planted  it  with  the  best  fruits  in  every  kind, 
and  given  to  it  the  style  of  embellishment,  both  with  respect  to 
the  disposition  of  the  grounds  and  the  trees,  which  was  at  that 
time  in  fashion.  But  this  residence,  at  once  so  cherished  and  de 
lightful,  he  was  permitted  to  enjoy  not  quite  a  year.  The  blow 
was  desolating  to  my  mother,  "  whose  heart  was  apt  to  feel ;"  and 
who,  in  addition  to  the  calamity  of  being  bereaved  of  one  with 
whom  her  union  had  been  happiness  uninterrupted,  found  herself 
at  about  the  age  of  two  and  thirty,  solely  involved  in  the  cares  of 
a  young  family  of  four  children,  of  wrhom  I,  about  to  complete  my 
ninth  year,  was  the  eldest.  To  me,  who  was  at  home  when  the 
event  took  place,  it  was  rather  a  shock  than  a  matter  of  poignant 
grief.  It  was  the  first  death  that  had  been  brought  home  to  me ; 
and  the  deep  distress  of  the  family,  together  \vith  the  dismal  ap 
paratus  of  coffins  and  hearses,  could  not  fail  to  overwhelm  me  in 
the  general  gloom.  The  next  day  I  was  sent  to  Philadelphia, 
wrhither  the  remains  of  my  father,  attended  by  his  faithful  and  de 
jected  friend  Joseph  Church,  were  conveyed  for  interment.  As 
funeral  honours  upon  these  occasions,  are  the  only  solace  of  the 

A  shoemaker's  'prentice,  making-  holy-day  with  his  sweetheart,  treated  her  with 
a  sight  of  Bedlam,  the  puppet-shows,  the  flying-chairs,  and  all  the  elegancies  of 
Moorficlds ;  whence  proceeding1  to  the  Farthing  Pie-house,  he  gave  her  a  collec 
tion  of  buns,  cheese-cakes,  gammon  of  bacon,  stuffed  beef,  and  bottled  ale;  through 
all  which  scenes  the  author  dodged  them  (charmed  with  the  simplicity  of  their 
courtship,)  whence  he  drew  this  little  sketch  of  nature ;  but,  being  then  young- 
and  obscure,  he  was  very  much  ridiculed  for  this  performance;  which,  neverthless, 
made  its  way  into  the  polite  world,  and  amply  recompensed  him  by  the  applause 
of  the  divine  Addison,  who  was  pleased,  more  than  once,  to  mention  it  with  ap 
probation." — Z)' Israeli's  Calamities  of  Authors.— ED. 


34  LATIN  SCHOOL. 

afflicted,  they  were  here  bestowed  with  an  unsparing  hand.  Much 
pomp  was  shown,  and  much  expense  incurred,  both  of  which 
would  have  been  saved  had  the  will  of  the  deceased,  which  en 
joined  a  plain  and  economical  burial,  been  previously  opened. 
The  pall,  sustained  by  six  of  his  old  city  friends,  I  followed  as 
chief  mourner,  and  saw  the  body  deposited  in  the  grave  yard  of 
Market  street  meeting-house,  in  or  near  the  tomb  wherein  his 
first  wife  had  been  laid.  My  father,  as  already  mentioned,  came 
to  this  country  a  married  man,  and  was  about  twenty  years  older 
than  my  mother.  Though  he  died  possessed  of  a  large  and 
valuable  landed  property  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Bristol,  con 
sisting  of  an  equal  part  of  one  thousand  acres,  purchased  in  con 
junction  with  Mr.  MTlvaine  in  the  year  1752  of  William  Whita- 
ker  of  London,  it  was  encumbered ;  and  the  provision,  made  ne 
cessary  by  a  settlement  on  his  first  marriage,  for  two  children,  who 
were  the  issue  of  it,  rendered  the  residue  inadequate  to  the  sup 
port  of  his  widow  and  her  children.  Hence,  a  removal  of  the  fa 
mily  to  Philadelphia  became  expedient,  and  was  resolved  on  as 
soon  as  the  requisite  arrangements  could  be  made ;  and  it  accord 
ingly  took  place  in  the  course  of  the  year.* 

*  I  was  unwilling  to  enlarge  on  the  topic  of  my  family,  or  I  might  have  said 
a  great  deal  more  of  my  father.  From  the  enthusiasm  with  which  I  have  heard 
him  spoken  of  by  some  who  knew  him,  I  have  reason  to  infer,  that  he  was  not 
only  a  man  of  unquestionable  probity,  but  that  there  was,  also,  much  of  attraction 
in  his  character.  Among  his  qualities,  was  that  of  a  singularly  clear  and  bar- 
monious  voice,  which  he  frequently  exercised  in  reading  aloud.  His  choice  of 
books  for  this  purpose,  often  fell  upon  Telemaches,  Don  Quixote,  and  Shakspeare, 
passages  from  all  of  which,  I  remember  to  have  heard  him  read ;  particularly  the 
opening  of  the  first,  which  introduces  the  disconsolate  Calypso  with  her  attendant 
nymphs,  and  the  two  strangers  just  shipwrecked  on  her  isle,  and  to  which  he 
gave  all  the  romantic  melancholy  and  pathos  that  belong  to  it.  From  Don  Quix 
ote,  the  mad  attack  on  the  wind-mills  and  the  sheep,  by  his  elevated  voice  and 
theatrical  manner,  for  he  really  acted  the  passages,  lost  nothing  of  the  animation 
originally  impressed  upon  them  by  their  inimitable  author.  Nor  was  Shakspeare 
more  a  sufferer  in  his  hands.  Parts  of  his  Henry  IV.  I  have  heard  him  read,  and 
also  of  his  Julius  Cccsar,  in  which  the  speech  of  Marcellus  the  Tribune,  begin- 
ning 

"Wherefore  rejoice,  what  conquests  brings  he  home? 
What  tributaries  follow  him  to  Rome,  &c." 

from  the  uncommon  energy  of  his  manner  of  reciting  it,  is  particularly  impressed 
on  my  mind.     I  have  understood  from  my  mother  that  he  had  been  a  member  of 


LATIN  SCHOOL.  35 

I  have  said  that  I  was  about  to  enter  the  Latin  school.  The 
person  whose  pupil  I  was  consequently  to  become,  was  Mr.  John 
Beveridge,  a  native  of  Scotland,  who  retained  the  smack  of  his 
vernacular  tongue  in  its  primitive  purity.  His  acquaintance  with 
the  language  he  taught,  was,  I  believe,  justly  deemed  to  be  very 
accurate  and  profound.  But  as  to  his  other  acquirements,  after 
excepting  the  game  of  backgammon,  in  which  he  was  said  to  ex 
cel,  truth  will  not  warrant  me  in  saying  a  great  deal.  He  was, 
however,  diligent  and  laborious  in  his  attention  to  his  school ;  and 
had  he  possessed  the  faculty  of  making  himself  beloved  by  the 
scholars,  and  of  exciting  their  emulation  and  exertion,  nothing 
would  have  been  wanting  in  him  to  an  entire  qualification  for  his 
office.  But,  unfortunately,  he  had  no  dignity  of  character,  and  \vas 
no  less  destitute  of  the  art  of  making  himself  respected  than  be 
loved.  Though  not  perhaps  to  be  complained  of  as  intolerably 
severe,  he  yet  made  a  pretty  free  use  of  the  ratan  and  the  ferule, 
but  to  very  little  purpose.  He  was  in  short  no  disciplinarian,  and 
consequently  very  unequal  to  the  management  of  seventy  or  eighty 
boys,  many  of  whom  were  superlatively  pickle  and  unruly.  He 
was  assisted,  indeed,  by  two  ushers,  who  eased  him  in  the  bur 
den  of  teaching,  but  who,  in  matters  of  discipline,  seemed  disin 
clined  to  interfere,  and  disposed  to  consider  themselves  rather  as 
subjects  than  rulers.  I  have  seen  them  slily  slip  out  of  the  way 
when  the  principal  was  entering  upon  the  job  of  capitally  punish 
ing  a  boy,  who  from  his  size,  wTould  be  likely  to  make  resistance. 
For  this  had  become  nearly  a  matter  of  course ;  and  poor  Beve 
ridge,  who  was  diminutive  in  his  stature,  and  neither  young  nor 
vigorous,  after  exhausting  himself  in  the  vain  attempt  to  denude 
the  delinquent,  was  generally  glad  to  compound  for  a  few  strokes 
over  his  clothes,  on  any  part  that  was  accessible.  He  had,  in 
deed,  so  frequently  been  foiled,  that  his  birch  at  length  was  rarely 
brought  forth,  and  might  truly  be  said  to  have  lost  its  terrors — it 
was  tanquam  gladiumin  vagina  repositum.  He  indemnified  him 
self,  however,  by  a  redoubled  use  of  his  ratan. 

a  conversation  and  reading  club  in  Philadelphia,  in  which  the  task  of  reading-  a 
new  book  was  always  devolved  on  him  when  present,  and  that,  in  this  capacity, 
Young's  Night  Thoughts,  on  their  coming  out,  were  read  by  him  to  the  com- 
pany. 


36  ANECDOTES  OF  MR.  BEVERIDGE* 

So  entire  was  the  want  of  respect  towards  him,  and  so  liable 
was  he  to  be  imposed  upon,  that  one  of  the  larger  boys,  for  a 
wager,  once  pulled  off  his  wig,  which  he  effected  by  suddenly 
twitching  it  from  his  head  under  pretence  of  brushing  from  it  a 
spider;  and  the  unequivocal  insult  was  only  resented  by  the 
peevish  exclamation  of  hoot  mon  ! 

Various  were  the  rogueries  that  were  played  upon  him ;  but 
the  most  audacious  of  all  was  the  following.  At  the  hour  of  con 
vening  in  the  afternoon,  that  being  found  the  most  convenient, 
from  the  circumstance  of  Mr.  Beveridge  being  usually  a  little  be 
yond  the  time ;  the  bell  having  rung,  the  ushers  being  at  their 
posts,  and  the  scholars  arranged  in  their  classes,  three  or  four  of 
the  conspirators  conceal  themselves  without,  for  the  purpose  of 
observing  the  motions  of  their  victim.  He  arrives,  enters  the 
school,  and  is  permitted  to  proceed  until  he  is  supposed  to  have 
nearly  reached  his  chair  at  the  upper  end  of  the  room,  when  in 
stantly  the  door  and  every  window-shutter  is  closed.  Now, 
shrouded  in  utter  darkness,  the  most  hideous  yells  that  can  be 
conceived,  are  sent  forth  from  at  least  three  score  of  throats ;  and 
Ovids,  and  Virgils,  and  Horaces,  together  with  the  more  heavy 
metal  of  dictionaries,  whether  of  Cole,  of  Young,  or  of  Ainsworth, 
are  hurled  without  remorse  at  the  head  of  the  astonished  pre 
ceptor,  who,  on  his  side,  groping  and  crawling  under  cover  of 
the  forms,  makes  the  best  of  his  way  to  the  door.  When  attained, 
and  light  restored,  a  death-like  silence  ensues.  Every  boy  is  at 
his  lesson  ;  no  one  has  had  a  hand  or  a  voice  in  the  recent  atro 
city  :  what  then  is  to  be  done,  and  who  shall  be  chastised. 

Scevit  atrox  Volscens,  nee  tell  conspicit  usquam 
Jluctorem,  nee  quo  se  ardens  immittere  possit. 

Fierce  Volscens  foams  with  rage,  and  gazing1  round 
Descries  not  him  who  aim'd  the  fatal  wound ; 
Nor  knows  to  fix  revenge. — 

This  most  intolerable  outrage,  from  its  succeeding  beyond  ex 
pectation,  and  being  entirely  to  the  taste  of  the  school,  had  a  run 
of  several  days ;  and  was  only  then  put  a  stop  to  by  the  inter 
ference  of  the  faculty,  who  decreed  the  most  exemplary  punish- 


SINGULAR  PETITION.  37 

ment  on  those  \vho  should  be  found  offending  in  the  premises, 
and  by  taking  measures  to  prevent  a  farther  repetition  of  the 
enormity. 

I  have  said,  and  with  truth,  that  I  was  no  promoter  of  mis 
chief;  but  I  will  not  take  upon  me  to  assert,  that  I  was  proof 
against  the  irresistible  contagion  of  such  a  scene,  or  that  I  did 
not  raise  my  voice  in  the  discordant  concert  of  the  screamers : 
though  I  can  safely  declare,  that  I  never  threw  at  the  master, 
and  that  I  was  wholly  ignorant  of  the  contrivers  and  ringleaders 
of  this  shameful  proceeding. 

In  the  year  1765,  Mr.  Beveridge  published  by  subscription  a 
small  collection  of  Latin  poems.  Of  their  general  merit  I  pre 
sume  not  to  judge,  but  I  think  I  have  heard  they  were  not  much 
commended  by  the  British  reviewers.  The  latinity  probably  is 
pure,  the  prosody  correct,  the  .versification  sufficiently  easy  and 
sounding,  and  such  as  might  serve  to  evince  an  intimate  acquaint 
ance  with  the  classics  of  ancient  Rome :  But  I  should  doubt  their 
possessing  much  of  the  soul  of  poetry.  One  of  them  is  neither 
more  nor  less  than  an  humble  petition  in  hexamaters,  and  cer 
tainly  a  very  curious  specimen  of  pedantic  mendicity.  It  is  ad 
dressed  to  Thomas  Penn,  the  proprietary  of  Pennsylvania;  and 
the  poet  very  modestly  proposes,  that  he  should  bestow  upon 
him  a  few  of  his  acres,  innumerable,  he  observes,  as  the  sands  of 
the  Delaware ;  in  return  for  which,  his  verse  shall  do  its  best  to 
confer  immortal  fame  upon  the  donor.  By  way  of  farther  induce 
ment  to  the  gift,  he  sets  before  his  excellency  the  usual  ingrati 
tude  of  an  enriched  and  unknown  posterity,  on  the  one  hand ; 
and  on  the  other,  the  advantage  which  Ajax,  TEneas  and  Maece 
nas  derived  from  the  muses  of  Homer,  of  Virgil  and  Horace.  But 
lest  I  might  be  suspected  of  misrepresentation,  let  my  good 
quondam  preceptor  speak  for  himself. 

Jugera  quum  libi  sint  quot  habct  DELAVARUS  arenas, 
Quid  magnum  minimo  tribuas  si  propria  parvoo. 
Fundamenta  casce,  Boreas  qua  ftigora  pcllam. 
Non  dabis  ingrato  dederis  licet  ctris  egeno, 
Quodquc  tibi  minimum,  magnum  csset  pauca  roganti. 
Sin  renuas,  tanti  nee  sint  commercia  nostra, 
Hoc  quoque  ne  pigeat  cito  spem  prrecidere  vanam, 

4 


38 

Nee  periisse  puta,  dederis  quod  vivus  amico  ; 
Credere  fas  sit  enim,  si  quid  mea  carmina  possint, 
Sera  licet,  majora  feras  quam  MEXICO  nobis, 
Seu  Tagus  auriferis  exundans  mittit  arenis  ; 
Auguror  et  si  quid  vives  post  fata  superstes. 

Quid  juvat  ignotis,  ingratis  forsitan,  auri 
Pondera,  frugiferis  vel  millia  jugera  campis 
Linquere  post  riatis  ?     Ncqueunt  nam  prodere  faraam 
Diviti®,  nequeunt  titulis  monumenta  superbis. 

Quid  foret  ./Eneas,  et  magni  nominis  Ajax, 
Atque  alii  quorum  sunt  nomina  multa  virorum ; 
Ni  foret  et  vates  divini  carminis  auctor 
Mseonides,  sacro  qui  primus  vertice  Pindi 
Deduxit  faciles  Phoebo  plaudente,  Camcenas  ? 

Vel  quid  Maecenas  animi  mentisque  benign® 
Ni  benefacta  sui  celebrasset  carmen  Horati, 
Et  Maro  munificum  cecinisset  gratus  aniicum  ?  &c.  &c. 

Might  not  one  here  be  tempted  to  exclaim  in  the  spirit  of  Prior 
to  Boileau! 

Pindar,  that  eagle  mounts  the  skies, 
While  virtue  leads  the  noble  way  : 
Too  like  a  vulture  Bev'ridge  flies 
Where  sordid  int'rest  lures  the  prey. 

I  never  heard,  however,  that  the  poet  was  the  better  for  his  appli 
cation  :  I  rather  think  that  the  proprietor  was  of  opinion,  there 
was  a  want  of  reciprocity  in  the  proposal,  and  that,  whatever  the 
carmen  Horati  vel  Maronis  might  have  been  \vorth,  that  of  Mr. 
Beveridge  did  not  amount  to  a  very  valuable  consideration. 

Another  of  the  principal  poems  in  this  collection  is  a  pastoral, 
which,  if  Mr.  Beveridge  had  had  the  salutary  fear  of  Boileau  be 
fore  his  eyes,  he  certainly  would  not  have  written ;  since,  never 
was  production  more  completely  under  the  lash  of  the  following 
satirical  lines. 

Viendrai-je,  eu  une  Eglogue  cntoure  de  troupcaux 
Au  milieu  de  Paris  enfler  mes  chalumeaux, 
Et  dans  mon  cabinet  assis  au  pied  dcs  hetres, 
Faire  dire  aux  echos  dcs  sottises  champetres  ? 


39 

The  complainant  in  this  pastoral  is  an  Edinburgh  cit,  whom  he 
appropriately  calls  Urbanus :  nevertheless  he  is,  without  the  small 
est  difficulty,  transformed  into  a  shepherd,  surrounded  with  sheep, 
and  proclaiming  to  the  echoes  his  sottises  champetres,  in  strains 
like  these — 

Audiit  et  planctus  gemebunda  remurmurat  Echo, 
Echo  sola  meos  miserata  est,  inquit  amores; 
Tristia  iiam  maestis  ex  saxis  assonat  imis, 
Flebile  luctisonis  responsat  et  usque  cicutis. 
Me  miserura  quoties  exclamo,  lugubris  ilia 
Me  miserum  ingeminat  gelidis  e  vallibus  :  Eheu, 
Clamant!  exclamat,  rcpetitis  vocibus,  Eheu ! 

But  after  all,  it  is  perhaps  too  much  to  expect  from  a  modern, 
good  Latin,  good  poetry,  and  good  sense,  all  at  the  same  time. 

As  it  frequently  happens  in  human  affairs,  that  men  are  mis 
placed,  and  that  those  found  in  a  subordinate  station  are  better 
fitted  for  the  supreme  authority  than  those  who  are  invested  with 
it,  so  it  generally  was  in  the  Latin  school  of  the  academy.  The 
ushers,  during  the  term  of  my  pupilage,  a  period  of  four  years,  or 
more,  were  often  changed ;  and  some  of  them,  it  must  be  admitted, 
were  insignificant  enough :  but  others,  were  men  of  sense  and  re 
spectability,  to  whom,  on  a  comparison  with  the  principal,  the 
management  of  the  school  might  have  been  committed  with  much 
advantage.  Among  these  was  Mr.  Patrick  Allison,  afterwards 
officiating  as  a  Presbyterian  clergyman  in  Baltimore ;  Mr.  James 
Wilson,  late  one  of  the  associate  justices  of  the  supreme  court  of 
the  United  States ;  and  Mr.  John  Andrews,  afterwards  Doctor  An 
drews  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  It  is  true,  they  were 
much  younger  men  than  Mr.  Beveridge,  and  probably  unequal 
adepts  in  the  language  that  was  taught ;  but  even  on  the  supposi 
tion  of  this  comparative  deficiency  on  their  part,  it  would  have 
been  amply  compensated  on  the  score  of  judicious  discipline  and 
instruction. 

With  respect  to  my  progress  and  that  of  the  class  to  which  I 
belonged,  it  was  reputable  and  perhaps  laudable  for  the  first  two 
years.  From  a  pretty  close  application,  we  were  well  grounded 
in  grammar,  and  had  passed  through  the  elementary  books,  much 
to  the  approbation  of  our  teachers ;  but  at  length,  with  a  single 


40  PHILADELPHIA  ACADEMY. 

exception,  we  became  possessed  of  the  demons  of  liberty  and 
idleness.     We  were,  to  a  great  degree,  impatient  of  the  restraints 
of  a  school ;  and  if  we  yet  retained  any  latent  sparks  of  the  emu 
lation  of  improvement,  we  were,  unfortunately,  never  favoured 
with  the  collision  that  could  draw  them  forth.     We  could  feel 
ingly  have  exclaimed  with  Louis  the  fourteenth,  mais  a  quoi  sert 
de  lire  !  but  where's  the  use  of  all  this  pouring  over  books !     One 
boy  thought  he  had  Latin  enough,  as  he  was  not  designed  for  a 
learned  profession;  his  father  thought  so  too,  and  was  about 
taking  him  from  school.     Another  was  of  opinion  that  he  might 
be  much  better  employed  in  a  counting-house,  and  was  also  about 
ridding  himself  of  his  scholastic  shackles.     As  this  was  a  con 
summation  devoutly  \vish,ed  by  us  all,  we  cheerfully  renounced  the 
learned  professions  for  the  sake  of  the  supposed  liberty  that  would 
be  the  consequence.     We  were  all,  therefore,  to  be  merchants, 
as  to  be  mechanics  wras  too  humiliating ;  and  accordingly,  when 
the  question  was  proposed,  which  of  us  would  enter  upon  the 
study  of  Greek,  the  grammar  of  which  tongue  was  about  to  be 
put  into  our  hands,  there  were  but  two  or  three  wTho  declared  for 
it.     As  to  myself,  it  was  my  mother's  desire,  from  her  knowing 
it  to  have  been  my  father's  intention  to  give  me  the  best  educa 
tion  the  country  afforded,  that  I  should  go  on,  and  acquire  every 
language  and  science  that  was  taught  in  the  institution ;  but,  as 
my  evil  star  would  have  it,  I  was  thoroughly  tired  of  books  and 
confinement,  and  her  advice  and  even  entreaties  were  overruled 
by  my  extreme  repugnance  to  a  longer  continuance  in  the  college, 
which,  to  my  lasting  regret,  I  bid  adieu  to  when  a  little  turned  of 
fourteen,  at  the  very  season  when  the  minds  of  the  studious  be 
gin  to  profit  by  instruction.     We  were  at  this  time  reading  Horace 
and  Cicero,  having  passed  through  Ovid,  Virgil,  Caesar,  and  Sal- 
lust.     From  my  own  experience  on  this  occasion,  I  am  inclined 
to  think  it  of  much  consequence,  that  a  boy  designed  to  com 
plete  his  college  studies,  should  be  classed  with  those  of  a  similar 
destination. 

Of  a  dozen  or  more  class-mates,  the  lapse  of  more  than  forty 
years,  puts  it  out  of  my  power  to  recognise  more  than  three  of 
them,  who.  are  yet  alive ;  though  there  may  be  others ;  settled  at 
a.  distance.  One  of  those,  who  was  the  exception  to  the  idle  pro- 


AUTHOR'S  EARLY  CLASS-MATES.  41 

pensity  I  have  mentioned,  has  lately  filled  an  important  office  in 
the  state ;  another  of  them,  though  a  boy  of  good  parts  and  much 
vivacity,  early  betook  himself  to  a  very  retired  walk  of  life,  from 
which  he  never  emerged ;  and  the  third,  with  whom  I  have  ever 
continued  in  the  closest  intimacy  and  friendship,  leads,  in  ease 
and  affluence  on  his  paternal  estate,  the  happy  life  of  a  country 
gentleman,  within  a  convenient  distance  of  the  metropolis. 

In  making  this  enumeration,  there  occurs  to  me  a  member  who 
joined  us  perhaps  about  a  year  before  I  left  the  college.  I  cannot  call 
him  a  boy,  since  he  was  married,  and  for  ought  I  know,  between 
thirty  and  forty  years  of  age.  His  puckered  cheeks,  at  least, 
would  have  justified  the  latter  part  of  this  conjecture.  He  was 
preparing  himself  for  the  pulpit  of  an  anabaptist  meeting-house,  ' 
and  although  the  acquisition  of  his  Latin  was  sufficiently  arduous 
in  all  conscience,  he  was  yet  courageous  enough  to  be  looking 
forward  to  the  attainment  also  of  the  Greek  and  the  Hebrew. 
With  a  rueful  length  of  visage  and  features  of  the  coursest  mould, 
his  figure  was  tall,  raw-boned  and  ungainly,  and  certainly  a  very 
heterogeneous  ingredient  in  the  mass  in  which  he  had  chosen  to 
compound  it.  But  he  was  not  more  distinguished  by  the  uncouth- 
ness  of  his  appearance  than  by  the  meekness  of  his  deportment. 
It  was  of  the  back  of  this  overgrown  schoolboy  that  Beveridge 
usually  strove  to  avail  himself,  in  those  abortive,  flagellant  efforts 
I  have  mentioned ;  and  the  function,  however  unpleasing  to  the 
Brobdingnagian,  he  had  too  strong  a  sense  of  duty  to  decline. 
Such  was  the  personage,  who,  from  a  clerical  ardour,  had  been 
tempted  to  transform  himself  into  this  scholastic  phenomenon. 
His  name,  I  think,  was  Stevens ;  and  though  I  have  amused  my 
self  with  the  recollection  of  his  ludicrous  attributes,  it  is  with  still 
more  satisfaction  I  bear  testimony  to  those,  that,  from  their  simple 
benevolence,  were  truly  respectable. 


RETROSPECTIVE  EVENTS,  &C. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Retrospective  events  in  the  Author's  history.— -Philadelphia.— Yellow  fever.— 

Lodging-  house. — Foot  races. — Paxton  boys. — They  threaten  the  city. Ogle 

and   Friend. — Author's  early   amusements. — School   anecdotes. — Sailing  ex- 

cursion. — Swimming-  and  Skating.— Abbe"  Raynal. — Lodging-house  guests. 

Baron  De  Kalb.— Lady  Moore.— Lady  Susan  O'Brien.— Woodward.— Sir  Wil 
liam  Draper.— Frank  Richardson. — Anecdote. — Major  Etherington. — Anec 
dote. — Majors  Small  and  Fell. — General  Reid. — Captain  Wallace. — Anecdote 
of  Joseph  Church. — Rivington  the  printer. 

ALTHOUGH  it  was  in  my  fifteenth  year,  as  already  mentioned, 
that  I  took  my  leave  of  the  academy,  yet  the  circumstances  I  am 
now  about  to  avert  to  were  antecedent  to  that  event,  and  are  to 
be  considered  as  having  taken  place  within  the  five  years  pre 
ceding  it. 

Among  the  persons  who  were  acquainted  and  visited  at  my 
grandfather's,  were  Doctor  Laughlin  M'Lean*  and  his  lady. 
The  latter  rarely  missed  a  day,  when  the  weather  was  favourable, 
of  calling  upon  our  countrywoman,  my  grandmother ;  and  I  well 
remember,  she  wras  always  attended  or  rather  preceded  by  a  small 
white  dog,  enormously  fat,  in  which  quality  he  even  exceeded  his 
mistress,  who  yielded  to  few  of  her  species  and  sex,  in  the  pos 
session  of  an  enviable  embonpoint.  The  doctor  was  considered 
to  have  great  skill  in  his  profession,  as  well  as  to  be  a  man  of  wit 
and  general  information,  but  I  have  never  known  a  person  who 
had  a  more  distressing  impediment  in  his  speech.  Yet,  notwith 
standing  this  misfortune,  he  some  years  after,  on  his  return  to 
Europe,  had  the  address  to  recommend  himself  to  a  seat  in  the 
British  House  of  Commons.  He  is  understood  to  be  the  same 
Lauchlan  Macleane,  who  at  Edinburgh  evinced  a  generous  be- 
uevolence  in  administering  to  the  relief  of  the  celebrated  Oliver 

*  Dr.  LAUCHLAN  MACLEANE.     Sec  Appendix  B. — ED. 


YELLOW  FEVER.  43 

Goldsmith,  as  related  in  the  life  of  that  poet ;  and  it  is  this  cir 
cumstance  which  has  principally  induced  me  to  notice  him  here. 

About  the  year  1760  or  1761,  to  the  best  of  my  recollection, 
the  city  was  alarmed  by  a  visitation  of  the  yellow  fever.  I  can 
say  nothing  of  the  extent  of  its  ravages,  having  been,  happily, 
too  young  to  be  infected  with  the  panic  it  produced,  or  to  have 
been  at  all  interested  in  the  inquiry,  whether  it  had  an  adequate 
cause.  My  impression  rather  was,  that  it  was  an  occurrence  by 
no  means  to  be  deprecated,  since  the  schools  were  shut  up,  and 
a  vacation  of  five  or  six  weeks,  its  fortunate  consequence.  As 
the  city  was  deserted  by  such  as  could  leave  it  without  too  much 
inconvenience,  my  grandfather  took  refuge  at  his  country  house 
near  Germantown,  whither,  as  one  of  his  family  I  accompanied 
him,  and  remained  there  until  the  danger  was  supposed  to  be 
over. 

It  was  in  the  fall,  probably  of  this  very  year,  that  my  mother 
removed  to  Philadelphia,  in  the  view  of  keeping  a  lodging  house, 
an  employment,  which  in  Pennsylvania,  has  been  the  usual 
resource  of  persons  in  her  situation,  that  is,  of  widows,  reputably 
brought  up,  left  in  circumstances  too  slender  for  the  support  of 
their  families.  She  began  with  taking  boys  who  went  to  the 
academy,  of  which  there  were  generally  a  number  from  the 
southern  provinces  and  the  West  India  islands.  Being  thus  esta 
blished,  I  left  my  grandfather's  for  her  house,  and  by  this  change 
of  residence,  bid  adieu  to  the  old  route,  which  for  about  two 
years  I  had  traversed  in  going  to  and  returning  from  school,  in  the 
winter  four  times,  and  in  the  summer  six  times  a  day.  I  had  my 
choice,  indeed,  of  different  streets,  and  sometimes  varied  my  course ; 
but  it  generally  led  me  through  what  is  now  called  Dock  street,  then 
a  filthy  uncovered  sewer,  bordered  on  either  side  by  shabby 
stables  and  tan-yards.  To  these,  succeeded  the  more  agreeable 
object  of  Israel  Pemberton's*  garden  (now  covered  in  part  by  the 

*  This  property,  together  with  the  mansion  erected  thereon,  was  originally  in 
possession  of  William  Clarke,  Esq.  For  several  years,  says  Watson,  the  pre- 
mises  were  occupied  by  some  of  the  earlier  governors.  It  was  purchased  by 
Andrew  Hamilton,  Esq.,  Attorney  General.  Its  next  owner  was  Israel  Pem- 
berton,  and  subsequently  became  celebrated  as  "  Pemberton's  House  and  gardens." 
The  building  was  large,  containing  many  parlours  and  chambers,  and  stood  on, 


44  FOOT  RACES. 

bank  of  the  United  States)*  laid  out  in  the  old  fashioned  style  of 
uniformity,  with  walks  and  allies  nodding  to  their  brothers,  and 
decorated  with  a  number  of  evergreens  carefully  clipped  into  py 
ramidal  and  conical  forms.  Here  the  amenity  of  the  view  usually 
detained  me  for  a  few  minutes :  Thence,  turning  Chestnut  street 
corner  to  the  left,  and  passing  a  row  of  dingy  two-story  houses, 
I  came  to  the  Whale  bones,  which  gave  name  to  the  alley,  at  the 
corner  of  which  they  stood.  These  never  ceased  to  be  occa 
sionally  an  object  of  some  curiosity,  and  might  be  called  my 
second  stage,  beyond  which  there  wras  but  one  more  general  ob 
ject  of  attention,  and  this  was  to  get  a  peep  at  the  race  horses, 
which  in  sporting  seasons  were  kept  in  the  widow  Nichols's 
stables,  which  from  her  house,  (the  Indian  Queen  at  the  corner  of 
Market  street,)  extended  perhaps  two-thirds  or  more  of  the  way 
to  Chestnut  street.  In  fact,  throughout  the  whole  of  my  route, 
the  intervals  took  up  as  much  ground  as  the  buildings ;  and  with 
the  exception  of  here  and  there  a  straggling  house,  Fifth  street 
might  have  been  called  the  western  extremity  of  the  city. 

My  course  was  much  shortened  by  the  removal  to  my  mother's, 
who  had  taken  a  house  in  Arch  street,  facing  the  Friends  burying 
ground.  The  first  lads  that  were  placed  with  her,  were  two 
brothers,  the  sons  of  a  colonel  Lewis  of  Virginia.  The  younger, 
named  Samuel,  about  a  year  older  than  myself,  had  the  attrac 
tions  of  a  pleasing  countenance  and  great  gentleness  of  manners. 
Though  he  belonged  to  a  younger  class  than  mine,  the  living  and 
sleeping  together  were  sufficient  to  cement  a  warm  attachment 

the  south  side  of  Chestnut  street,  a  short  distance  west  of  Third.  After  the  decease 
of  Mr.  Pcmbcrton,  it  was  occupied  by  ALEXANDER  HAMILTON,  as  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  of  the  United  States.  The  building  was  razed  about  the  year  1800, 
and  the  grounds  divided  into  building  lots  upon  which  were  soon  erected  more 
convenient  structures,  many  of  which  have  already  given  place,  in  their  turn,  to 

the  loftier  and  more  commodious  edifices  of  still  more  recent  time. ED. 

*  Purchased  by  the  late  Mr.  Stephen  Girard,  and  occupied  for  many  years  by 
him  as  a  successful  banker.  His  bank  was  in  high  credit  at  the  time  of  his 
decease,  and,  under  his  able  and  judicious  management,  had  always,  and  fre 
quently  during  periods  of  depression  and  trial,  sustained  its  high  reputation.  At 
his  death,  the  building  was  occupied  and  known  as  "the  Girard  Bank,"— a  new 
institution  under  far  different  auspices,  which,  in  due  time,  met  with  a  violent  end. 
The  building  remains,  however,— a  lucky  circumstance  !— Ep. 


FOOT  RACES.  45 

between  us,  and  there  was  not  a  boy  in  the  school  in  whose 
welfare  and  competitions  I  took  so  decided  an  interest ;  the  ar 
dour  of  which  was  in  almost  perpetual  requisition,  from  the  cir 
cumstance  of  his  being  a  champion  in  the  gymnastic  exercise  of 
running,  which  was  then  the  rage.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  turf 
had  pervaded  the  academy,  and  the  most  extravagant  transports 
of  that  theatre  on  the  triumph  of  a  favourite  horse,  were  not  more 
zealous  and  impassioned,  than  were  the  acclamations  which  fol 
lowed  the  victor  in  a  foot-race  round  a  square.  Stripped  to  the 
shirt,  and  accoutred  for  the  heat  by  a  handkerchief  bound  round 
the  head,  another  round  the  middle,  with  loosened  knee-bands, 
without  shoes,  or  with  mocasons  instead  of  them,  the  racers  were 
started ;  and  turning  to  the  left  round  the  corner  of  Arch  street, 
they  encompassed  the  square  in  which  the  academy  stands,  while 
the  most  eager  spectators,  in  imitation  of  those  who  scour  across 
the  course  at  a  horse-race,  scampered  over  the  church  burying 
ground  to  Fifth  street,  in  order  to  see  the  state  of  the  runners  as 
they  passed,  and  to  ascertain  which  was  likely  to  be  foremost,  on 
turning  Market  street  comer.  The  four  sides  of  this  square  can 
not  be  much  less  than  three-quarters  of  a  mile  ;*  wherefore,  bot 
tom  in  the  coursers,  was  no  less  essential  than  swiftness,  and  in 
both,  Lewis  bore  away  the  palm  from  every  one  that  dared  enter 
against  him.  After  having  in  a  great  number  of  matches  com 
pletely  triumphed  over  the  academy,  other  schools  were  resorted 
to  for  racers ;  but  all  in  vain :  Lewis  was  the  Eclipse  that  distanced 
every  competitor,  the  swift-footed  Achilles,  against  the  vigorous 
agility  of  whose  straight  and  well-proportioned  form,  the  long 
legged  stride  of  the  overgrown,  and  the  nimble  step  of  the  dap 
per,  were  equally  unavailing.  I  was  scarcely  less  elated  with  his 
triumphs,  than  if  I  myself  had  been  the  victor:  I  was  even 
supremely  happy  in  the  circumstance,  wrhich  gave  me  a  claim  to 
a  more  than  common  degree  of  interest  in  him,  and  from  my  ex 
perience  of  the  force  of  these  associations,  in  which,  by  a  kind  of 
metonymy,  we  take  the  place  of  the  real  agent,  I  can  fully  enter 
into  the  feelings  of  the  butcher,  who  ecstacied  at  the  good  be- 

*  Overrated,  as  from  the  description  of  the  city  in  Proud's  History  of  Penn 
sylvania,  it  appears  that  the  distance  is  not  half  a  mile,  being  only  a  little  more 
than  700  yards. 


46 


PAXTON  BOYS. 


haviour  of  his  dog  at  a  bull  baiting,  exclaimed  to  Charles  the 
Second,  "Damme,  sir,  if  that  is'nt  my  dog!"  Since  the  time  of 
those  exploits,  in  which  I  was  too  young  to  enter  the  lists,  I  have 
valued  myself  upon  my  own  agility  in  running  and  jumping;  but 
I  have  never  had  the  vanity  to  suppose,  that  at  my  best,  I  could 
have  contended  with  any  chance  of  success,  in  so  long  a  race 
against  Lewis. 

At  what  time  I  was  separated  from  this  friend  of  my  youth  I 
cannot  remember ;  but  have  to  regret,  that  I  lost  the  opportunity 
of  seeing  him,  when  several  years  afterwards,  having  I  know  not 
what  business  in  Philadelphia  which  required  despatch,  he  called 
upon  me  one  evening  when  I  chanced  to  be  out,  and  as  he  was 
obliged  to  leave  the  city  very  early  in  the  morning,  staid  in  the 
hope  of  meeting  me  till  a  very  late  hour.  But  my  engagements 
unfortunately  detained  me  too  long,  and  he  had  been  obliged  to 
depart  before  I  returned.  This  could  not  have  been  long  be 
fore  the  war,  probably  between  the  year  1770  and  1772,  when 
we  had  both  attained  to  years  of  manhood;  but  whatever  may 
have  been  his  destiny,  I  have  never  since  heard  of  him.* 

Of  all  the  cities  in  the  world,  Philadelphia  was  for  its  size,  per 
haps,  one  of  the  most  peaceable  and  unwarlike;  and  Grant  was 
not  wholly  without  data  for  supposing,  that  with  an  inconsiderable 
force  he  could  make  his  way,  at  least,  through  Pennsylvania.  So 
much  had  the  manners  of  the  Quakers,  and  its  long  exemption 
from  hostile  alarm,  nourished  this  disposition,  that  a  mere  handful 
of  lawless  frontier  men,  was  found  sufficient  to  throw  the  capital 
into  consternation.  The  unpunished,  and  even  applauded  mas 
sacre  of  certain  Indians  at  Lancaster,!  who  in  the  jail  of  that  town 
had  vainly  flattered  themselves  that  they  possessed  an  asylum, 
had  so  encouraged  their  murderers,  who  called  themselves  Paxton 
boys,  that  they  threatened  to  perpetrate  the  like  enormity  upon  a 

*  It  is  not  only  possible  but  probable,  that  he  might  have  been  one  of  the 
Lewis's  who  defeated  the  Indians  in  the  great  battle  of  Point  Pleasant  in  the 
year  1774.  There  was  a  General  and  a  Colonel  Lewis,  brothers,  the  latter  of 
whom  fell  in  the  acti&n. — See  Cumings  Tour,  p.  123. 

t  This  was  in  December,  1763  ;  six  Indians  were  killed  atConestoga  Manor  on 
the  14th  of  this  month;  and  the  remainder  of  the  tribe  being-  fourteen  in  number 
were  killed  at  Lancaster  on  the  27th.— 2d  Proud,  p.  326. 


PAXTON  BOYS CAPTAIN  LOXLEY.  47 

number  of  other  Indians  under  the  protection  of  government  in 
the  metropolis  ;*  and  for  this  purpose,  they  at  length  put  them 
selves  in  arms,  and  actually  began  their  march.     Their   force, 
though  known  to  be  small  in  the  beginning,  continually  increased 
as  it  went  along,  the  vires  acquirit  eunde  being  no  less  the  attri 
bute  of  terror  than  of  fame.     Between  the  two,  the  invaders  were 
augmented  to  some  thousands  by  the  time  they  had  approached 
within  a  day  or  two's  journey  of  their  object.     To  the  credit, 
however,  of  the  Philadelphians,  every  possible  effort  was  made 
to  frustrate  the  inhuman  design  of  the  banditi ;  and  the  Quakers 
as  \vell  as  others,  who  had  proper  feelings  on  the  occasion,  ex 
erted  themselves  for  the  protection  of  the  terrified  Indians,  who 
were  shut  up  in  the  barracks,  and  for  whose  immediate  defence, 
part  of  a  British  regiment  of  foot  was  stationed  there.     But  the 
citadel  or  place  of  arms  was  in  the  very  heart  of  the  city,  all 
around  and  within  the  old  court-house  and  Friend's  meeting 
house.     Here  stood  the  artillery,  under  the  command  of  captain 
Loxley,f  a  very  honest,  though  little,  dingy-looking   man,  with 
regimentals,   considerably  war-worn  or  tarnished;   a  very  sala 
mander  or  fire  drake  in  the  public  estimation,  whose  vital  air  was 
deemed  the  fume  of  sulphureous  explosion,  and  who,  by  what 
ever  means  he  had  acquired  his  science,  was  always  put  foremost 
when  great  guns  were  in  question.     Here  it  was  that  the  grand 
stand  was  to  be  made  against  the  approaching  invaders,  who,  if 
rumour  might  be  credited,  had  now  extended  their  murderous 
purposes,  beyond   the  savages,  to   their  patrons  and   abettors. 
Hence,  the  cause  had   materially  changed  its  complexion,  and 
instead  of  resting  on  a  basis  of  mere  humanity  and  plighted  faith, 
it  had  emphathically  become  the  cause  of  self-preservation ;  little 
doubt  being  entertained  that  the  capital  would  be  sacked,  in  case 
of  the  predominance  of  the  barbarous  foe.     In  this  state  of  con 
sternation  and  dismay,  all  business  was  laid  aside  for  the  more 
important  occupation  of  arms.     Drums,  colours,  rusty  halberts 
and  bayonets,  were  brought  forth  from  their  lurking  places ;   and, 

*  About  140  in  number.— 2d  Proud,  p.  326. 

t  This  doughty  gentleman  was  a  Lieutenant  under  Braddock  in  1756,  and 
was  certainly  a  man  of  considerable  influence  and  repute,  notwithstanding  the 
humorous  description  of  the  text. — ED. 


48 


PAXTON  BOYS. 


as  every  good  citizen  who  had  a  sword  had  girded  it  to  his  thigh, 
so  every  one  who  had  a  gun  had  placed  it  on  his  shoulder.  In 
short,  bella,  horrida  bella,  war,  destructive  war,  was  about  to 
desolate  the  hitherto  peaceful  streets  of  Philadelphia. 

But  with  all  this,  the  old  proverb  was  not  belied  ;  and  the  be 
nign  influence  of  this  ill  wind  was  sensibly  felt  by  us  school-boys. 
The  dreaded  event  was  overbalanced  in  our  minds  by  the  holy- 
days  which  were  the  effect  of  it ;  and  so  far  as  I  can  recall  my 
feelings  on  the  occasion,  they  very  much  preponderated  on  the 
side  of  hilarity. 

As  the  defensive  army  was  without  eyes,  it  had,  of  course,  no 
better  information  than  such  as  common  bruit  could  supply;  and 
hence,  many  untoward  consequences  ensued  :  One  was  the  near 
extinction  of  a   troop  of  mounted  butchers  from   Germantown, 
who,  scampering  down  Market  street  with  the  best  intentions  in 
the  world,  were  announced  as  the  Paxton  boys,  and  by  this  mis 
take,  very  narrowly  escaped  a  greeting  from  the  rude  throats  of 
captain  Loxley's  artillery.     The  word  FIRE  was  already  quivering 
on  his  lips,  but  Pallas  came  in  shape  of  something,  and  suppressed 
it.     Another  emanation  from  this  unmilitary  defect  of  vision,  was 
the  curious  order,  that  every  house-holder  in  Market  street  should 
affix  one  or  more  candles  at  his  door  before  daylight,  on   the 
morning  of  the  day  on  which,  from  some  sufficient  reason  no 
doubt,  it  had  been  elicited  that  the  enemy  would  full  surely  make 
his  attack,  and  by  no  other  than  this  identical  route,  on  the  cita 
del.     Whether  this  illumination  was  merely  intended  to  prevent 
surprise,  or  whether  it  was  that  the  commander  who  enjoined  it- 
was  determined,  like  Ajax,  that  if  perish  he   must,  he   would 
perish  in  the  face  of  day,  I  do  not  know,  but  certain  it  is,  that 
such   a   decree   went  forth  and  was  religiously  complied  with. 
This  I   can  affirm  from  the  circumstance  of  having  resided  in 
Market  street  at  the  time.     The  sage  precaution,  however,  proved 
superfluous,  although  with  respect  merely  to  the  nearness  of  the 
redoubted  invaders,  there  was  colour  for  it.     It  was  soon  ascer 
tained  that  they  had  reached  Germantown,  and  a  deputation  of 
the  least  obnoxious  citizens  with  the  olive  branch,  was  sent  out  to 
meet  them.     After  a  parley  of  some  days,  an  armistice  was  agreed 
upon,  and  peace  at  length  so  effectually  restored,  that  the  formi- 


PAXTON  BOYS- — PARTY  SPIRIT.  49 

dable  stragglers  who  had  excited  so  much  terror,  were  permitted, 
as  friends,  to  enter  the  city. 

Party  spirit,  at  this  time,  ran  very  high,  and  the  Paxton*  men 

*  Generally  known  as  "  the  Paxton  boys," — from  the  township  of  Paxton,  in 
Lancaster  county,  associated  to  avenge  alleged  barbarities  of  the  Indians. 
Among  their  leaders  were  Stewart,  Calhoun,  Smith  and  Dickey.  They  created 
much  excitement  at  the  time,  (1764.)  "In  this  year," — says  Watson — "under 
an  alarm  of  intended  massacre,  fourteen  being  previously  killed  on  the  Conestoga, 
the  Indians  sought  shelter  in  Lancaster,  and,  for  better  security,  were  placed 
under  bolts  and  bars  in  the  county  prison  ;  but,  at  noon,  a  party  on  horseback,  from 
the  country,  rode  through  the  streets  to  the  prison,  and  there  forcibly  entered 
and  killed  unresisting  men  and  women  on  the  spot.  The  citizens  of  Lancaster 
were  loudly  blamed  for  their  apathy.  They  suffered  the  perpetrators  of  this 
cruel  outrage  to  depart  unpunished.  Meanwhile  other  friendly  Indians  who  had 
received  information  of  this  massacre,  sought  refuge  in  Philadelphia,  the  news 
of  which  exasperated  the  "  Paxton  boys,"  who  at  once  resolved  to  march  to  the 
city,  for  the  purpose  of  completing  the  destruction  they  had  commenced,  and  also 
to  take  summary  vengeance  upon  the  friends,  residing  there,  of  their  intended 
victims. 

"  The  news  of  their  approach,  which  outran  them,  was  greatly  magnified  ;  the 
utmost  excitement  prevailed,  and  a  fearful  struggle  was  anticipated.  Among  the 
citizens  of  Philadelphia  were  many  who  entertained  feelings  of  bitter  hostility 
towards  the  unfortunate  race,  for  their  conduct  during  the  Indian  war.  The 
*  Paxton  boys,'  to  the  number  of  several  hundred,  armed  with  rifles,  and  clad  in 
hunting  shirts,  affecting  the  rudest  manners,  approached  the  city  in  two  divisions 
as  far  asGcrmantown,  and  the  opposite  bank  of  the  Schuylkill,  where  they  finally 
entered  into  affected  negotiations  with  the  citizens,  at  the  head  of  whom  was  Dr. 
Franklin,  and  returned  to  their  homes,  to  the  terror  of  the  country  through  which 
they  passed, 

"In  the  meantime,  the  Indians  sought  refuge  in  Philadelphia,  having  with 
them  their  Moravian  minister.  They  were  at  first  conducted,  by  order  of  the 
governor,  to  the  barracks  in  the  Northern  Liberties ;  but  the  highlanders  there 
refused  them  shelter,  although  it  was  cold  December  weather,  and  for  several 
hours  they  were  exposed  to  the  unrestrained  insults  of  the  rabble.  They  were 
subsequently  sent  to  New  York.  They  were  guarded  by  a  company  of  seventy 
highlanders  as  far  as  Amboy,  where  they  were  stopped  by  order  of  General  Gage. 
They  next  returned  to  Philadelphia.  All  these  removals  were  measures  of 
security,  as  fears  were  still  entertained  from  many  of  the  excited  citizens,  who 
were  favourable  to  the  movements  which  threatened  their  destruction.  In  the 
midst  of  the  panic  caused,  at  night,  by  the  reported  proximity  of  the  '  Paxton 
boys,'  the  town  was  illuminated,  alarm  bells  were  sounded,  and  the  citizens 
hastened  for  arms  to  the  barracks.  Many  young  Quakers  joined  the  dfc- 
fenders  there,  where  they  speedily  threw  up  intrenchments.  Dr.  Franklin 
and  others,  who  went  forth  to  meet  the  leaders,  conducted  them  into  the  city, 
that  they  might  point  out,  if  possible,  those  who  had  been  guilty  of  alleged  ex- 
cesses.  But  they  failed  to  make  the  necessary  recognition,  and  fearing  that  the 

5 


50  PAXTON  BOYS PARTY  SPIRIT. 

were  not  without  a  number  of  clamorous  advocates,  who  entirely 
justified  them  on  the  score  of  their  sufferings  from  the  savages, 
who,  during  the  war,  had  made  incursions  upon  them,  and  mur 
dered  their  kindred  and  friends.  It  was  even  alleged,  that  the 
pretended  friendly  Indians  had  been  treacherous,  having  always 
maintained  an  understanding  with  the  hostile  ones,  and  frequently 
conducted  them  into  our  settlements :  But  this  rested  on  mere 
suspicion,  without  a  shadow  of  proof  that  ever  I  heard  of.  It 
was  enough,  however,  to  throw  it  out  to  obtain  partisans  to  the 
opinion  ;  and,  whether  the  Paxton  men  were  "  more  sinned 
against  than  sinning,"  was  a  question  which  was  agitated  with  so 
much  ardor  and  acrimony,  that  even  the  school-boys  became 
warmly  engaged  in  the  contest.  For  my  own  part,  though  of  the 
religious  sect  which  had  been  long  warring  with  the  Quakers,  I 
was  entirely  on  the  side  of  humanity  and  public  duty,  (or  in  this, 
do  I  beg  the  question?)  and  perfectly  recollect  my  indignation  at 
the  sentiments  of  one  of  the  ushers  who  was  on  the  opposite  side. 
His  name  was  Davis,  and  he  was  really  a  kind,  good  natured 
man ;  yet  from  the  dominion  of  his  religious  or  political  pre 
judices,  he  had  been  led  to  apologize  for,  if  not  to  approve  of,  an 
outrage,  which  was  a  disgrace  to  a  civilized  people.  He  had 
been  among  the  riflemen  on  their  coming  into  the  city,  and  talk 
ing  with  them  upon  the  subject  of  the  Lancaster  massacre,  and 
particularly  of  the  killing  of  Will  Sock,  the  most  distinguished 
of  the  victims,  related  with  an  air  of  approbation,  this  rodomon 
tade  of  the  real  or  pretended  murderer.  "I,"  said  he,  "  am  the 
man  who  killed  Will  Sock — this  is  the  arm  that  stabbed  him  to 
the  heart,  and  I  glory  in  it."  Notwithstanding  the  fine  colouring 
of  Mr.  Davis,  young  as  I  was,  I  am  happy  in  being  able  to  say, 
that  I  felt  a  just  contempt  for  the  inglorious  boaster,  who  appeared 
to  me  in  the  light  of  a  cowardly  ruffian,  instead  of  a  hero.  There 
was  much  political  scribbling  on  this  occasion ;  and  among  the 

citizens  were  well  prepared  to  make  good  their  defence,  they  professed  to  be 
satisfied  and  soon  returned  to  their  homes." 

The  Indians  remained  in  the  city  for  several  months,  where  their  numbers 
were  speedily  thinned  by  the  ravages  of  the  small-pox.  Fifty-six  were  buried  in 
the  Potter's  Field,  now  known  as  AVashington  Square,  the  good  people  of  Phila- 
delphia  preferring  this  to  the  more  euphonous  designation  of  PARK!— ED. 


OGLE  AND  FRIEND.  51 

pamphleteers  of  the  day,  Doctor  Franklin,  drew  his  pen  in  behalf 
of  the  Indians,  giving  a  very  affecting  narrative  of  the  transaction 
at  Lancaster,  which,  no  doubt,  had  its  effect  in  regulating  public 
opinion,  and  thereby  putting  a  stop  to  the  farther  violence  that 
was  meditated. 

But  it  was  not  alone  by  hostile  alarms,  that  the  good  people  of 
Philadelphia  were  annoyed.  Their  tranquillity  had  been  likewise 
disturbed  by  the  uncitizenlike  conduct  of  a  pair  of  British  officers, 
who,  for  want  of  something  better  to  do,  had  plunged  themselves 
into  an  excess  of  intemperance ;  and  in  the  plentitude  of  wine 
and  hilarity,  paraded  the  streets  at  all  hours, 

A  la  clarte  de  cieux  dans  Pombre  de  la  nuit, 

to  the  no  small  terror  of  the  sober  and  the  timid.  The  firm  of 
this  duumvirate  was  Ogle  and  Friend,  names  always  coupled  to 
gether,  like  those  of  Castor  and  Pollux,  or  of  Pylades  and 
Orestes.  But  the  cement  which  connected  them,  was  scarcely 
so  pure  as  that  which  had  united  those  heroes  of  antiquity.  It 
could  hardly  be  called  friendship,  but  was  rather  a  confederacy  in 
debauchery  and  riot,  exemplified  in  a  never  ending  round  of  frolic 
and  fun.  It  was  related  of  Ogle,  that  upon  hiring  a  servant,  he 
had  stipulated  with  him  that  he  should  never  get  drunk  but  when 
his  master  was  sober.  But  the  fellow  some  time  after  requested 
his  discharge,  giving  for  his  reason,  that  he  had  in  truth  no  dislike 
to  a  social  glass  himself,  but  it  had  so  happened,  that  the  terms 
of  the  agreement  had  absolutely  cut  him  off  from  any  chance  of 
ever  indulging  his  propensity. 

Many  are  the  pranks  I  have  heard  ascribed,  either  conjointly 
or  separately,  to  this  par  nobile  fratrum.  That  of  Ogle's  first 
appearance  in  Philadelphia,  has  been  thus  related  to  me  by  Mr, 
Will  Richards,  the  apothecary,  who,  it  is  well  known,  was,  from 
his  size  and  manner,  as  fine  a  figure  for  FalstafFas  the  imagination 
can  conceive.  "  One  afternoon,"  said  he,  "  an  officer  in  full 
regimentals,  booted  and  spurred  with  a  whip  in  his  hand,  spattered 
with  mud  from  top  to  toe,  and  reeling  under  the  effects  of  an 
overdose  of  liquor,  made  his  entrance  into  the  coffee-house,  in  a 
box  of  which  I  was  sitting,  perusing  a  newspaper.  He  was 


52  OGLE  AND  FRIEND. 

probably  under  the  impression,  that  every  man  he  was  to  meet 
would  be  a  Quaker,  and  that  a  Quaker  was  no  other  than  a 
licensed  Simon  Pure  for  his  amusement :  for  no  sooner  had  he 
entered,  than  throwing  his  arms  about  the  neck  of  Mr.  Joshua 
Fisher  with  the  exclamation  of — "Ah,  my  dear  Broadbrim  give 
me  a  kiss,"  he  began  to  slaver  him  most  lovingly.  As  Joshua 
was  a  good  deal  embarrassed  by  the  salutation,  and  wholly  unable 
to  parry  the  assault  or  shake  off  the  fond  intruder,  I  interfered 
in  his  behalf  and  effected  a  separation,  when  Ogle,  turning  to  me, 
cried  out,  f  Hah !  my  jolly  fellow,  give  me  a  smack  of  your  fat 
chops,'  and  immediately  fell  to  hugging  and  kissing  me,  as  he 
had  done  Fisher.  But  instead  of  the  coyness  he  had  shown,  I 
hugged  and  kissed  in  my  turn  as  hard  as  I  was  able,  until  my 
weight  at  length  brought  Ogle  to  the  floor  and  myself  on  top  of 
him :  Nevertheless,  I  kept  kissing  away,  until  nearly  mashed  and 
suffocated,  he  exclaimed,  cfor  Heaven's  sake  let  me  up,  let  me 
up,  or  you  will  smother  me !'  Having  sufficiently  tormented  him 
and  avenged  Joshua  Fisher,  I  permitted  him  to  rise,  when  he 
seemed  a  good  deal  sobered,  and  finding  that  I  was  neither  a 
Quaker  nor  wholly  ignorant  of  the  world,  he  evinced  some  respect 
for  me,  took  a  seat  writh  me  in  a  box,  and  entering  into  conversa 
tion,  soon  discovered,  that  however  he  might  be  disguised  by  in 
toxication,  he  well  knew  what  belonged  to  the  character  of  a  gen 
tleman.  This,"  said  Richards,  "  was  the  commencement  of  an 
acquaintance  between  us ;  and  captain  Ogle  sometimes  called  to 
see  me,  upon  wrhich  occasions  he  always  behaved  with  the  utmost 
propriety  and  decorum." 

This  same  coffee-house,  the  only  one  indeed  in  the  city,  was 
also  the  scene  of  another  affray  by  Ogle  and  Friend  in  conjunc 
tion.  I  know  not  what  particular  acts  of  mischief  they  had  been 
guilty  of,  but  they  w^ere  very  drunk,  and  their  conduct  so  ex 
tremely  disquieting  and  insulting  to  the  peaceable  citizens  there 
assembled,  that  being  no  longer  able  to  endure  it,  it  was  judged 
expedient  to  commit  them  ;  and  Mr.  Chew  happening  to  be  there, 
undertook,  in  virtue  probably  of  his  office  of  recorder,  to  write 
their  commitment:  But  Ogle,  facetiously  jogging  his  elbow,  and 
interrupting  him  with  a  repetition  of  the  pitiful  interjection  of 
,  now,  Mr.  Chew  /"  he  was  driven  from  his  gravity,  and 


OGLE  AND  FRIEND.  53 

obliged  to  throw  away  the  pen.  It  was  then  taken  up  by  Alder 
man  M n  with  a  determination  to  go  through  with  the  busi-, 

ness,  when  the  culprits  reeling  round  him,  and  Ogle  in  particular? 
hanging  over  his  shoulder  and  reading  after  him  as  he  wrote,  at 
length,  with  irresistible  effect,  hit  upon  an  unfortunate  oversight 
of  the  alderman.  "Ay,"  says  he,  "my  father  was  a  justice  of 
peace  too,  but  he  did  not  spell  that  word  as  you  do.  I  remember 
perfectly  well,  that  instead  of  an  S  he  always  used  to  spell  CIR 
CUMSTANCE  with  a  C."  This  sarcastic  thrust  at  the  scribe,  en 
tirely  turned  the  tide  in  favour  of  the  rioters ;  and  the  com^ 
pany  being  disarmed  of  their  resentment,  the  alderman  had  no 
disposition  to  provoke  farther  criticism  by  going  on  with  the 
mittimus. 

The  irregularities  of  these  gay  rakes  were  not  more  eccentric 
than  diversified ;  and  the  more  extravagant  they  could  render 
them,  the  better.  At  one  time,  they  would  drive  full  tilt  through 
the  streets  in  a  chair ;  and  upon  one  of  these  occasion^,  on  ap-> 
proaching  a  boom  which  had  been  thrown  across  the  street,  in  a 
part  that  was  undergoing  the  operation  of  paving,  they  lashed 
forward  their  steed,  and  sousing  against  the  spar  with  great  vio 
lence,  they  were  consequently  hurled  from  their  seats,  like  Don 
Quixote  in  his  temerarious  assault  of  the  windmills.  At  another 
time,  at  Doctor  Orme's,  the  apothecary,  where  Ogle  lodged,  they, 
in  emulation  of  the  same  mad  hero  at  the  puppet  show,  laid  about 
them  with  their  canes  upon  the  defenceless  bottles  and  phials,  at 
the  same  time  assaulting  a  diminutive  Maryland  parson,  whom, 
in  their  frolic,  they  kicked  from  the  street-door  to  the  kitchen.  He 
was  a  fellow  lodger  of  Ogle's ;  and,  to  make  him  some  amends 
for  the  roughness  of  this  usage,  they  shortly  after  took  him  drunk 
to  the  dancing  assembly,  where,  through  the  instrumentality  of 
this  unworthy  son  of  the  church,  they  contrived  to  excite  a  notable 
hubbub.  Though  they  had  escaped,  as  already  mentioned,  at 
the  coffee-house,  yet  their  repeated  malfeasances  had  brought  them 
within  the  notice  of  the  civil  authority ;  and  they  had  more  than 
once  been  in  the  clutches  of  the  mayor  of  the  city.  This  was  Mr. 

S ,   a  small  man  of  a  squat,   bandy-legged  figure;    and 

hence,  by  way  of  being  revenged  on  him,   they  bribed  a  negro 
with  a  precisely  similar  pair  of  legs,  to  carry  him  a  billet,  which 

5* 


54 

imported,  that  as  the  bearer  had  in  vain  searched  the  town  for  a 
pair  of  hose  that  might  fit  him,  he  now  applied  to  his  honour  to 
be  informed  where  he  purchased  HIS  stockings. 

I  have  been  told  that  General  Lee,  when  a  captain  in  the 
British  service,  had  got  involved  in  this  vortex  of  dissipation ;  and 
although  afterwards  so  strenuous  an  advocate  for  the  civil  rights 
of  the  Americans,  had  been  made  to  smart  severely  for  their  vio 
lation,  by  the  mayor's  court  of  Philadelphia. 

The  common  observation,  that  when  men  become  soldiers  they 
lose  the  character  and  feelings  of  citizens,  was  amply  illustrated 
by  the  general  conduct  of  the  British  officers  in  America.  Their 
studied  contempt,  of  the  mohairs,  by  which  term  all  those  who 
were  not  in  uniform  were  distinguished,  \vas  manifest  on  all  occa 
sions:  and  it  is  by  no  means  improbable,  that  the  disgust 
then  excited,  might  have  more  easily  ripened  into  that  harvest 
of  discontent,  which  subsequent  injuries  called  forth,  and 
which  terminated  in  a  subduction  of  allegiance  from  the  parent 
land. 

At  the  era  of  these  various  intestine  commotions,  I  could  not 
have  more  than  completed  my  twelfth  year.  My  attention  to  my 
school  exercises,  as  already  observed,  was  not  at  this  time  to  be 
complained  of;  and  a  part  of  my  evenings  was  either  employed 
in  writing  them  or  committing  them  to  memory.  In  relation  to 
the  latter,  I  will  mention  a  circumstance  which  to  me  appeared 
remarkable,  though  perhaps  it  was  not  peculiar.  After  labouring 
in  vain  to  master  my  task,  I  have  gone  to  bed,  scarcely  able  to 
repeat  a  line  of  it,  but  in  the  morning  when  I  awoke,  it  has  been 
perfect  in  my  memory.  The  same  thing  has  often  occurred  in 
respect  to  tunes  I  have  been  desirous  of  acquiring :  and  indeed  I 
have  ever  found,  that  the  morning  was  the  propitious  season  for 
the  exertion  of  my  mental  faculties.  But  though  not  materially 
deficient  in  attention,  it  had  not  the  smallest  reference  to  future 
utility ;  and  something  less  than 

A  wizard  might  have  said, 
I  ne'er  shall  rise  by  benefice  or  trade. 

A  scramble  was  ever  my  aversion,  and  the  unthriftiness  of  my 
character  might  also  have  been  inferred,  from  my  indifference  to 


55 

those  games  which  have  gain  for  their  object.  I  never  could 
boast  my  winning  at  marbles  or  chuckers;  and  as  I  chiefly  played 
them  for  pastime,  I  never  attained  to  that  degree  of  perfection  in 
them,  which  the  keener  stimulus  of  profit  is  calculated  to  pro 
duce,  and  which  alone  perhaps  can  lead  to  the  fame  of  a  dabster. 
When  in  possession  of  any  of  these  implements  that  were 
reckoned  handsome  or  good,  I  never  felt  the  inclination  I  have 
observed  in  those  of  better  trading  parts,  of  turning  them  into 
pence :  with  me  they  were  hobby  horses,  not  articles  of  com 
merce  ;  and  though  I  had  no  dislike  to  money,  it  never  impressed 
me  as  a  primary  good,  a  circumstance  more  essential  than  may 
be  imagined,  to  what  is  called  success  in  life.  I  do  not  speak  of 
this  as  a  virtue  ;  and  if  it  were  one,  I  have  certainly  little  reason 
to  rejoice  in  it.  It  is  not  one  of  those,  at  least,  which  leads  to 
riches  and  advancement ;  or  \vhich,  under  the  wrorld's  lawT,  has 
a  right  to  look  for  other  than  its  own  reward.  In  gymnastic  ex 
ercises,  however,  my  relish  was  keen  and  altogether  orthodox. 
For  those  of  running,  leaping,  swimming  and  skating,  no  one 
had  more  appetite;  and  for  the  enjoyment  of  these,  fatigue  and 
hunger  were  disregarded.  To  these  succeeded  a  passion  for 
fowling  and  boating;  fishing  being  too  sedentary  and  inactive 
for  my  taste.  If  furnished  on  Saturday  afternoon  or  other 
holyday,  with  cash  enough  for  the  purchase  of  powder  and 
shot,  or  the  hire  of  a  batteau  or  skiff,  as  the  propensity  of  the  day 
might  incline,  I  had  nothing  more  to  wish  for.  In  my  land  ram 
bles,  the  environs  of  Philadelphia  for  several  miles  round,  were 
thoroughly  traversed,  from  the  uplands  of  Springetsbury,  Bush- 
hill  and  Centre-wood,  to  the  low  grounds  and  meadows  of  Pas- 
syunk  and  Moyamensing;  \vhile,  in  my  water  excursions,  the 
sedgy  shores  of  the  Delaware,  as  well  as  the  reedy  cover  of 
Petty 's,  League  and  Mud  Islands,  were  pervaded  and  ex 
plored  in  pursuit  of  ducks,  reed-bird  and  rail.  No  pestilent 
vapours  then  arose  from  these  marshes ;  and  instead  of  the 
deadly  fevers  which  have  since  proceeded  from,  or  been  fos 
tered  by  them,  their  effluvia  gave  a  zest  to  the  cold  morsel  in 
the  locker. 

But  notwithstanding  the  ardour  with  which  these  sports  were 


56  SCHOOL  ANECDOTES. 

pursued,  I  not  unfrequently  surrendered  myself  to  the  reveries  of 
a  pleasing  melancholy,  to  which  I  have  ever  been  occasionally 
inclined.  For  hours  together  have  I  sat  alone,  listening  to  the 
church  bells,  which  it  was  the  custom  to  ring  on  the  evening  be 
fore  market  day,  and  which,  from  the  back  part  of  a  house 
wherein  we  some  time  resided  on  the  south  side  of  Arch  street, 
were  heard  to  much  advantage.  Rousseau,  who  takes  great 
pains  to  represent  himself  as  different  from  all  others,  and  who 
seems  to  suppose  that  the  mould  in  which  he  was  cast  has  been 
broken,  informs  us,  that  the  chime  of  bells  always  singularly  af 
fected  him.  But  the  lively  testimony  of  my  own  feelings  assures 
me,  that  never,  not  even  on  the  day  when  he  took  a  ramble  in 
the  suburbs  of  Annecy  while  Madam  de  Warrens  was  at  vespers, 
and  gave  himself  up  to  those  delightful  illusions,  of  which  he  has 
given  so  enchanting  a  description,  was  he  more  under  the  in 
fluence  of  their  transporting  sounds  than  I  have  been.  How 
often  has  the  simple  melody  of  Turn  again  Wittington,  "  resound 
ing  through  the  empty-vaulted  night,"  completely  lifted  me 
from  the  earth ;  absorbed  me  in  etherial  visions,  and  sublimed 
me  into  such  abstraction  from  this  low  world  and  its  concerns, 
as  to  identify  my  conceptions  with  those  of  the  poet,  when  he 
exclaims, 

How  vain  the  ardour  of  the  crowd, 
How  low,  how  little  are  the  proud, 
How  indigent  the  great ! 

The  amusements  I  have  been  speaking  of,  were  of  no  advantage 
to  me  as  a  student ;  but  what  was  lost  to  the  mind  by  my  strong 
addiction  to  active  recreations,  was  gained  to  the  body ;  and 
tended  to  invigorate  a  constitution  naturally  tender.  My  exer 
cises  were  often  carried  to  toil.  I  was  extremely  fond  of  rowing, 
and  took  great  delight  in  feathering  my  oar,  sometimes  skimming 
it  along  the  surface  of  the  water  in  the  manner  of  a  wherry  man, 
sometimes  resting  it  horizontally  between  the  thole  pins  in  the 
fashion  of  a  bargeman.  I  had  also  made  some  proficiency  in 
sculling,  which  appeared  to  me  a  highly  enviable  qualification : 
but  the  trimming  of  sails,  laying  a  boat  to  the  wind,  with  the 
management  of  the  helm  and  the  application  of  the  proper  terms, 


SAILING  EXCURSION.  57 

were,  in  my  eyes,  acquisitions  more  truly  honourable  than  the  best 
of  those  which  are  attained  in  a  college.  The  subject  recalls  a 
memorable  expedition  I  engaged  in,  when  perhaps  about  the  age 
of  thirteen.  Returning  from  morning  school  at  eight  o'clock,  a 
boy,  a  brother  of  the  late  Mr.  Robert  Morris,  proposed  an  ex 
cursion  to  Chester,  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  the  Coventry  frigate 
which  there  rode  at  anchor.  From  an  over  greediness  of  grati 
fication,  his  plan  was  to  have  two  boats,  whereas  one  would  have 
been  very  ample  for  four  of  us,  the  number  of  the  company. 
But  then  the  projector  of  the  voyage  might  have  found  competi 
tors  for  the  helm,  which  he  wished  to  engross ;  and  had,  accord 
ingly,  secured  an  unambitious  ship-mate,  in  a  son  of  captain 
Loxley,  of  Paxton  war  memory,  already  mentioned.  A  skiff  he 
had  already  prepared  for  himself  and  his  comrade,  and  suggested 
where  a  batteau  might  be  obtained  for  the  other  two  of  the  party, 
one  Corbett  from  the  island  of  Montserrat,  and  myself.  Each 
boat  had  a  sail,  and  he  observed,  that  as  the  wind  and  tide  would 
be  favourable,  we  could  run  down  in  a  few  hours.  I  objected, 
that  I  had  not  breakfasted.  Neither  had  he,  he  said,  nor  indeed 
any  of  us  ;  but  this  was  of  little  consequence,  as  we  could  fur 
nish  ourselves  with  cakes.  My  mind  fluctuated  awhile  between 
the  charms  of  the  adventure  and  the  impropriety  of  going  with 
out  permission,  and  consequently  subjecting  my  mother  to  a 
most  distressing  state  of  anxiety  on  my  account :  For  I  was  nei 
ther  an  habitual  truant-player,  nor  a  contemner  of  the  feelings  of 
a  most  affectionate  parent,  though  I  should  have  been  ashamed 
to  have  said  so.  But  such  was  the  eagerness  for  the  frolic  with 
my  associates,  that  it  would  not  admit  of  a  moment's  delay ;  and 
the  allurements  of  pleasure  proving  too  potent  for  principle,  I 
yielded  to  persuasion,  and  we  embarked.  It  was  a  fine  morning ; 
a  gentle  breeze  propelled  us  in  our  course,  and  in  a  few  hours 
we  were  delightfully  wafted  to  the  place  of  destination.  We 
saw  the  frigate,  had  the  pleasure  of  sailing  round  her,  the  satis 
faction  of  counting  her  guns,  of  contemplating  her  bright  sides, 
(for  she  appeared  to  be  new,)  of  admiring  her  rigging,  and  the 
duck-like  beauty  with  which  she  sat  upon  the  water.  But  here 
fruition  ended.  Water  excursions  are  keen  whetters  of  the  appe 
tite,  and  the  calls  of  hunger  began  to  be  importunate.  I  forget 


58 


SAILING  EXCURSION. 


whether  we  had  taken  any  cakes  with  us,  but  if  we  had,  the  sup 
ply  had  been  very  insufficient  for  the  day's  provision.  Hereupon, 
a  canvass  took  place  of  the  state  of  our  pockets:  they  were  found 
empty  and  pennyless:  We  were,  in  short,  a  miserable  crew  of 
Gautiers  sans  argent,  and  being  too  proud  to  beg  for  victuals, 
we  had  no  resource  but  unripe  fruit.  As  the  wind  was  unfavour 
able  to  our  return,  we  were  obliged  to  wait  for  the  turning  of  the 
tide,  and  in  the  mean  time,  employed  ourselves  in  sauntering 
about  the  village,  the  orchards,  and  the  shore.  We  found,  too, 
that  we  were  very  much  out  in  our  reckoning,  the  tide  of  flood 
not  making  for  above  an  hour  later  than  our  calculation.  At 
length,  however,  we  had  the  satisfaction  to  find,  that  the  marks 
we  had  made  in  the  sand  were  unequivocally  encroached  upon 
by  the  water,  and  that  floating  substances  were  at  a  stand,  if  not 
really  changed  in  their  direction.  We  hailed  the  event,  and  im 
mediately  embarked.  But  now  our  toils  began.  It  was  already 
late  in  the  afternoon :  The  wind,  still  ahead,  had  considerably  in 
creased,  and  the  lowering  aspect  of  the  sky  indicated  approaching 
rain.  It  came  on  about  dusk,  and  in  this  situation  we  had  to  tug 
at  our  oars  like  galley  slaves,  for  the  whole  distance  of  from  six 
teen  to  eighteen  miles.  Then  it  was,  we  perceived  the  folly  of 
our  two  boats.  It  was  between  ten  and  eleven  at  night  when  we 
reached  the  city,  wet,  almost  starved,  and  exhausted  with  labour. 
As  I  well  knew  what  must  be  my  mother's  cruel  situation,  I 
hastened  to  show  myself,  and  found  her  a  prey  to  the  most  af 
flicting  uncertainty.  She  had  not  been  able  to  obtain  any  satis 
factory  tidings  of  me,  and  knew  not  what  to  conclude.  My  tres 
pass,  however,  being  readily  forgiven,  I  appeased  my  hunger  and 
went  to  bed.  Extreme  fatigue,  especially  when  it  has  been  min 
gled  with  anxiety,  is  unfavourable  to  repose,  and  I  slept  but  ill. 
I  was  tormented  with  distressing  dreams,  contending,  as  it 
seemed,  with  tasks  above  my  strength,  and  buffeting  with  waves 
"in  night  and  tempest  wrapt." 

Borne  by  th1  outrageous  flood 
To  distance  down,  I  ride  the  ridgy  wave, 
Or  whclm'd  beneath  the  boiling  eddy  sink. 

The  exercises  of  swimming  and  skating  were  so  much  within 


SWIMMING  AND  SKATING.  59 

the  reach  of  the  boys  of  Philadelphia,  that  it  would  have  been 
surprising,  had  they  neglected  them,  or  even  had  they  not  ex 
celled  in  them.  Both  Delaware  and  Schuylkill  present  the  most 
convenient  and  delightful  shores  for  the  former,  whilst  the  heat 
and  the  length  of  the  summers  invite  to  the  luxury  of  bathing ; 
and  the  same  rivers  seldom  fail  in  winter,  to  offer  the  means  of 
enjoying  the  latter ;  and  when  they  do,  the  ponds  always  afford 
them.  Since  the  art  of  swimming  has  been,  in  some  degree , dig 
nified  by  Dr.  Franklin's  having  been  a  teacher  of  it,  and  having 
made  it  the  subject  of  a  dissertation,  I  may,  perhaps,  be  warranted 
in  bringing  forward  my  remark.  When  in  practice,  I  never  felt 
myself  spent  with  it ;  and  though  I  never  undertook  to  swim 
farther  than  across  Schuylkill,  at  or  near  the  middle  ferry  where 
the  bridge  now  stands,  it  appeared  to  me  that  I  could  have  con 
tinued  the  exercise  for  hours,  and  consequently  have  swum  some 
miles.  To  recover  breath,  I  only  found  it  necessary  to  turn  upon 
my  back,  in  which  position  writh  my  arms  across  my  body  or 
pressed  to  my  sides,  since  moving  them  as  many  do,  answers  no 
other  purpose  than  to  retard  and  fatigue  the  swimmer ;  my  lungs 
had  free  play,  and  I  felt  myself  as  perfectly  at  ease,  as  if  reclined 
on  a  sofa.  In  short,  no  man  can  be  an  able  swimmer,  who  only 
swims  with  his  face  downward  :  The  pressure  of  the  water  on  the 
breast,  is  an  impediment  to  respiration  in  that  attitude,  which,  for 
that  reason  cannot  be  long  continued ;  whereas,  the  only  incon 
venience  in  the  supine  posture,  is,  that  the  head  sinks  so  low, 
that  the  ears  are  liable  to  receive  water,  a  consequence  which 
might  be  prevented  by  stopping  them  with  wool  or  cotton,  or 
covering  them  with  a  bathing  cap. 

With  respect  to  skating,  though  the  Philadelphians  have  never 
reduced  it  to  rules  like  the  Londoners,  nor  connected  it  with  their 
business  like  Dutchmen,  I  will  yet  hazard  the  opinion,  that  they 
were  the  best  and  most  elegant  skaters  in  the  world.  I  have  seen 
New  England  skaters,  Old  England  skaters,  and  Holland  skaters, 
but  the  best  of  them  could  but  u  make  the  judicious  grieve."  I 
was  once  slightly  acquainted  with  a  wrorthy  gentleman,  the  quon 
dam  member  of  a  skating  club  in  London,  and  it  must  be.  ad 
mitted  that  he  performed  very  well  for  an  Englishman.  His  High 


60 


SKATING. 


Dutch,  or  as  he  better  termed  it,  his  outer  edge  skating,  might,  for 
aught  I  know,  have  been  exactly  conformable  to  the  statutes  of 
this  institution  :  To  these,  he  would  often  appeal ;  and  I  recollect 
the  principal  one  was,  that  each  stroke  should  describe  an  exact 
semicircle.     Nevertheless,  his  style  was  what  we  should  deem  a 
very  bad  one.     An  utter  stranger  to  the  beauty  of  bringing  for 
ward  the  suspended  foot  towards  the  middle  of  the  stroke,  and 
boldly  advancing  it  before  the  other,  at  the  conclusion  of  it,  thus 
to  preserve  throughout  his  course,  a  continuity  of  movement,  to 
rise  like  an  ascending  wave  to  its  acme,  then,  gracefully  like  a 
descending  one,  to  glide  into  the  succeeding  stroke  without  effort 
either  real  or  apparent— every  change  of  foot  with  this  gentleman, 
seemed  a  beginning  of  motion,  and  required  a  most  unseemly 
jerk  of  the  body ;  and  unequivocal  evidence  of  the  want  of  that 
power,  which  depends  upon  a  just  balance,  and  should  never  be 
lost— which  carries  the  skater  forward  with  energy  without  ex 
ertion;  and  is  as  essential  to  his  swift  and  graceful  career,  as  is 
a  good  head  of  water  to  the  velocity  of  a  mill  wheel.     Those 
who  have  seen  good  skating  will  comprehend  what  I  mean,  still 
better  those  who  are  adepts  themselves;  but  excellence  in  the  art 
can  never  be  gained  by  geometrical  rules.     The  two  reputed  best 
skaters  of  my  day,  were   General  Cadwallader  and  Massey  the 
biscuit  baker;  but  I  could  name  many  others,  both  of  the  aca 
demy  and  Quaker  school  who  were  in  no  degree  inferior  to  them  ; 
whose  action  and  attitudes  were  equally  graceful,  and  like  theirs, 
no  less  worthy  of  the  chisel  than  those,  which  in  other  exer 
cises,  have  been  selected  to  display  the  skill  of  the  eminent  sculp 
tors  of  antiquity.*     I  here  speak,  be  it  observed,  of  what  the 

*  Watson  also  informs  us  that  "during  the  old  fashioned  winters,  when,  about 
New  Year's  day,  every  one  expected  to  see  or  hear  of  an  'Ox  Roast'  on  the 
Delaware,  upon  the  thick  ribbed  ice,  the  river's  surface  was  covered  with  skaters 
Of  the  many  varieties  of  skaters  of  all  colours  and  sizes  mingled  together,  and 
darting  about  here  and  there,  'upward  and  downward,  mingled  and  convolved;' 
a  few  were  at  all  times  distinguished  above  the  rest  for  dexterity,  power  and 
grace,  and  among  these  were  William  Tharpc,  Dr.  Foulke,  Governor  Miiflin,  C. 
W.  Pealc,  George  Heyl,  and  Joe  Claypoole,not  to  omit  a  black  Othello  who,  from 
his  apparent  muscle  and  powerful  movement,  might  have  sprung,  as  did  the 
Moor  from  'men  of  royal  siege.'  In  swiftness  he  had  no  competitor;  he  out- 
stripped  the  wind;  the  play  of  his  elbows  in  alternate  movement  with  his  'low 


SKATING ABBE  RAYNAL.  61 

Philadelphians  were,  not  what  they  are,  since  I  am  unacquainted 
with  the  present  state  of  the  art ;  and  as  from  my  lately  meeting 
with  young  men,  who,  though  bred  in  the  city  had  not  learned  to 
swim,  I  infer  the  probability,  that  skating  may  be  equally  on  the 
decline. 

The  Abbe  Raynal,*  when  speaking  of  Philadelphia,  in  his  Philo 
sophical  History  of  the  East  and  West  Indies,  observes  that  the 

gutter '  skates,  while  darting1  forward  and  uttering  occasionally  a  wild  scream 
peculiar  to  his  race  while  in  active  exertion  of  body,  was  very  imposing  in  ap 
pearance  and  effect.  Of  the  gentlemen  before  enumerated,  George  Heyl  took 
the  lead  in  graceful  skating,  and  in  superior  dexterity  in  cutting  figures  and 
'High  Dutch'  within  a  limited  space  of  smooth  ice.  On  a  larger  field  of  glass, 
among  others  he  might  be  seen  moving  about  elegantly  and  at  perfect  ease,  in 
curve  lines,  with  folded  arms,  being  dressed  in  red  coat  (as  was  the  fashion)  and 
buckskin  '  tights,'  his  bright  broad  skates  in  an  occasional  round  flashing  upon 
the  eye  ;  then  again  to  be  pursued  by  others  he  might  be  seen  suddenly  changing 
to  the  back  and  heel  forward  movement,  offering  them  his  hand,  and  at  the  same 
time  eluding  their  grasp  by  his  dexterous  and  sudden  deviations  to  the  right  and 
left,  leaving  them  to  the  toil  of 'striking  out*  after  him  with  all  their  strength. 

"The  next  best  skater,  was  Dr.  Foulke.  Skating 'High  Dutch,' and  being 
able  to  cut  the  letters  of  his  own  name  at  one  flourish  constituted  his  fame  as 
a  skater. 

"C.  W.  Peale,  (founder  of  the  Museum)  was  only  distinguished  for  using  a 
remarkable  pair  of 'gutter  skates,' with  a  singular  prong,  capped  and  curved 
backwards,  with  which  he  moved  leisurely  about  in  curve  lines.  They  looked 
as  if  they  had  been  brought  to  him  from  afar,  as  a  contribution  to  the  curiosities 
of  his  Museum." — ED. 

*  This  celebrated  person  was  born  in  1712  :  educated  among  the  Jesuits,  and 
had  even  become  a  member  of  their  Order :  but  was  expelled  for  denying  the 
supreme  authority  of  the  church.  He  afterwards  associated  with  Voltaire, 
D'Alembert,  and  Diderot,  and  was,  by  them,  employed  to  furnish  the  theological 
articles  for  the  Encyclopedia.  In  this,  however,  he  received  the  assistance  of  the 
Abbe  Yvon,  to  whom  he  did  not  give  above  a  sixth  of  what  he  received ;  which, 
being  afterwards  discovered,  he  was  obliged  to  pay  Yvon  the  balance.  His  most 
celebrated  work  is  his  Political  and  Philosophical  History  of  the  European  settle- 
ments  in  the  East  and  West  Indies;  which  has  been  translated  into  all  the 
languages  of  Europe  and  much  admired.  This  work  was  followed  in  1780  by 
another  entitled  the  Revolution  of  America,  in  which  the  Abbe  pleads  the  cause 
of  the  Americans  with  zeal.  The  chief  trait  in  Raynal's  character  was  his  love 
of  liberty;  but  when  he  saw  the  length  to  which  the  French  Revolutionists  were 
proceeding,  he  made  one  effort  to  stop  them  in  their  career.  In  May,  1791,  he 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  Constituent  National  Assembly,  in  which,  after  compli 
menting  them  upon  the  great  things  they  had  done,  he  cautioned  them  against 
the  dangers  of  going  farther.  He  lived  not  only  to  see  his  forebodings  of  public 

6 


62  SKATING ABBE  RAYNAL. 

houses  are  covered  with  slate,  a  material  amply  supplied  from 
quarries  in  the  neighbourhood.  But,  unfortunately,  for  the  source 
from  which  the  Abbe  derived  his  information,  there  were  no  such 
quarries  near  the  city  that  ever  I  heard  of,  and  certainly  but  a 
single  house  in  it  with  this  kind  of  roof,  which,  from  that  circum 
stance,  was  distinguished  by  the  name  of  The  Slate  House.  It 
stood  in  Second  street,  at  the  corner  of  Norris's  alley,  and  was  a 
singular  old  fashioned  structure,  laid  out  in  the  style  of  a  fortifica 
tion,  with  abundance  of  angles  both  salient  and  re-entering.  Its 
two  wings  projected  to  the  street  in  the  manner  of  bastions,  to 
which,  the  main  building  retreating  from  sixteen  to  eighteen  feet, 
served  for  a  curtain^  Within,  it  was  cut  up  into  a  number  of 
apartments,  and  on  that  account,  was  exceedingly  well  adapted 
to  the  purpose  of  a  lodging  house,  to  which  use  it  had  been  long 
appropriated.  An  additional  convenience,  was  a  spacious  yard 
on  the  back  of  it,  extending  half  way  to  Front  street,  enclosed  by 
a  high  wall,  and  ornamented  with  a  double  row  of  venerable, 
lofty  pines,  which  afforded  a  very  agreeable  rus  in  urbe,  or  rural 
scene  in  the  heart  of  the  city.  The  lady  who  had  resided  here 
and  given  some  celebrity  to  the  stand  by  the  style  of  her  accom 
modations,  either  dying  or  declining  business,  my  mother  was 
persuaded  by  her  friends  to  become  her  successor;  and,  accord 
ingly  obtained  a  lease  of  the  premises,  and  took  possession  of 
them  to  the  best  of  my  recollection,  in  the  year  1764  or  1765.* 

calamity  realized,  but  to  suffer  his  share  of  it.  After  being  stripped  of  all  his 
property,  which  was  considerable,  by  the  robbers  of  the  Revolution,  he  died  in 
poverty,  March,  1796,  in  the  eighty. fourth  year  of  his  age. — Land.  Ency. — ED. 

*  The  slate-roof  house  is  still  standing,  in  1846,  a  creditable  monument  to  the 
forbearance  of  its  lady-owner,  in  the  midst  of  the  general  war  which,  for  years, 
has  been  steadily  waged  against  every  relic  of  the  olden-time.  How  mucli  longer 
it  will  be  suffered  to  remain  it  were  vain  to  conjecture.  Its  origin,  its  uses,  and 
the  historical  characters  who,  from  tittre  to  time,  have  dwelt  within  its  walls, 
should  create  a  feeling  of  interest,  for  its  preservation  on  the  part  of  Philadclphians; 
and  prompt  the  adoption  of  immediate  measures  for  that  patriotic  purpose.  In 
this  age  of  "Constitutional  scruples,"  the  city  councils  might  not  feel  at  liberty 
to  appropriate  the  sum  necessary  for  its  purchase  and  restoration ;  but  the  citi 
zens  themselves  by  limiting  the  sum  to  a  trifle,  might  readily  fill  a  subscription 
for  a  few  thousand  dollars,  and,  by  placing  it  under  the  guardianship  of  the  city, 
insure  for  it  the  necessary  care. 

We  are  informed  by  the  Zealous  chronicler,  Watson,  that  this  house  was  erected 


LODGING  HOUSE SLATE-ROOF  HOUSE.  63 

While  in  this  residence,  and  in  a  still  more  commodious  one  in 
the  upper  part  of  Front  street,  to  which  she  some  years  afterwards 
removed,  she  had  the  honour,  if  so  it  might  be  called,  of  enter 
taining  strangers  of  the  first  rank  who  visited  the  city.  Those 
who  have  seen  better  days,  but  have  been  compelled  by  hard 
necessity,  to  submit  to  a  way  of  life,  which  to  a  feeling  mind, 
whoever  may  be  the  guests,  is  sufficiently  humiliating,  are  much 
indebted  to  Mr.  Gibbon,  for  the  handsome  manner  in  which  he 
speaks  of  the  hostess  of  a  boarding  house  at  Lausanne.  With 
the  delicacy  of  a  gentleman  and  the  discernment  of  a  man  of  the 
world,  the  historian  dares  to  recognise  that  worth  and  refinement 
are  not  confined  to  opulence  or  station  ;  and  that  although,  in  the 
keeper  of  a  house  of  public  entertainment,  these  qualities  are  not 
much  to  be  looked  for,  yet,  when  they  do  occur,  the  paying  for 
the  comforts  and  attentions  we  receive  does  not  exempt  us  from 
the  courtesy  of  an  apparent  equality  and  obligation.  An  equally 
liberal  way  of  thinking,  is  adopted  by  Mr.  Cumberland,  who  tells 
us  in  his  Memoirs,  that  the  British  coffee-house  was  kept  by  a 
Mrs.  Anderson,  a  person  of  great  respectability.  If,  then,  an 
education  and  situation  in  early  life,  which  enabled  my  mother  to 
maintain  an  intercourse  in  the  best  families  in  the  city,  pretentions, 
in  no  degree  impaired  by  her  matrimonial  connexion,  or  an  in 
dustrious,  irreproachable  conduct  in  her  succeeding  years  of 
widowhood,  can  give  a  claim  to  respect,  I  have  a  right  to  say 
with  Mr.  Cumberland,  that  the  principal  lodging  house  in  Phila 
delphia,  was  kept  by  a  person  of  great  respectability. 

A  biographical  sketch  of  the  various  personages,  who,  in  the 
course  of  eight  or  nine  years,  became  inmates  of  this  house, 

for  Samuel  Carpenter  whom  lie  eulogizes  for  his  early  public  spirit,  and  that  it 
was  occupied  by  William  Penn,  on  his  second  visit  in  the  year  1700.  One 
month  after  Penn's  arrival,  John  Penn,  called  the  "American,"  was  born  in  this 
house.  In  1703,  the  property  was  purchased  by  William  Trent,  the  founder  of 
Trenton — the  capitol  of  New  Jersey,  for  £850.  Watson  quotes  a  letter  from 
James  Logan  in  1700  to  Penn  as  follows:  "  William  Trent  designing-  for  Eng 
land  is  about  selling  his  house,  (that  he  bought  of  Samuel  Carpenter,)  which  thou 
lived  in,  with  the  improvement  of  a  beautiful  garden.  I  wish  it  could  be  made 
thine,  as  nothing  in  this  town  is  so  well  fitting  a  Governor.  His  price  is  £900 
of  our  money,  which  it  is  hard  thou  can'st  not  spare." 

He  could  not  spare  it,  however,  and  it  became  the  property  of  a  Mr.  Norris,  in 
whose  family  it  still  continues. — ED. 


64         LODGING  HOUSE  GUESTS BARON  DE  KALB. 

might,  from  the  hand  of  a  good  delineator,  be  both  curious  and 
amusing.  Among  these,  were  persons  of  distinction,  and  some 
of  no  distinction :  many  real  gentlemen,  and  some,  no  doubt,  who 
were  merely  pretenders  to  the  appellation.  Some  attended  by 
servants  in  gay  liveries ;  some,  with  servants  in  plain  coats,  and 
some  with  no  servants  at  all.  It  was  rarely  without  officers  of 
the  British  army.  It  was  at  different  times,  nearly  filled  by  those 
of  the  Forty-second  or  Highland  regiment,  as  also  by  those  of  the 
Royal  Irish.  Besides  these,  it  sometimes  accommodated  officers 
of  other  armies,  and  other  uniforms.  Of  this  description,  was 
the  Baron  de  Kalb,  who  visited  this  country  probably  about  the 
year  1768  or  1769  ;  and  who  fell  a  major-general  in  the  army  of 
the  United  States  at  the  battle  of  Camden.  Though  a  German 
by  birth,  he  had  belonged  to  the  French  service,  and  had  returned 
to  France,  after  the  visit  just  mentioned.  During  our  revolu 
tionary  contest,  he  came  to  tender  us  his  services,  and  returned 
no  more.  The  steady  and  composed  demeanour  of  the  Baron, 
bespoke  the  soldier  and  philosopher ;  the  man  who  had  calmly 
estimated  life  and  death,  and  who,  though  not  prodigal  of  the 
one,  had  no  unmanly  dread  of  the  other.  He  was  not  indeed  a 
young  man ;  and  his  behaviour  at  the  time  of  his  death,  as  1  have 
heard  it  described  by  Mons.  Dubuisson,  his  aid-de-camp,  was 
exactly  conformable  to  what  might  have  been  supposed  from  his 
character..* 

*  "  The  representation  of  the  Baron," — says  the  author  in  a  MS.  note — "  as 
un  enthusiast  for  liberty,  whose  sacred  cause  he  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  espouse, 
is  one  of  the  '  lame  and  impotent  conclusions '  of  our  republican  fanatics.  He 
cared  just  as  much  for  our  liberty,  probably,  as  did  the  other  French  subjects 
who  assisted  us  under  the  standard  of  the  Count  de  Rochambeau.  He,  no  doubt, 
thought  the  occasion  favourable  for  crippling  the  power  of  Britain,  and  of  avenging 
the  loss  of  Canada.  At  the  same  time,  he  was  politic  enough  to  take  the  tone 
of  the  people  he  was  acting  with,  and  might,  therefore,  have  talked  of  liberty 
with  the  rest,  but  he  would  have  deemed  it  quite  sufficient  to  his  fame,  to  be  con 
sidered  as  at  onco  faithful  to  France  and  her  allies,  and  of  having  acquitted  him 
self  as  a  brave  and  accomplished  soldier;  and  this  was  all  we  had  to  require  of 
him." 

The  Baron  was  born  in  Germany,  about  the  year  1717.  When  young,  he 
entered  into  the  service  of  France,  in  which  he  continued  for  forty-two  years,  and 
obtained  the  rank  of  brigadier-general.  In  1757,  during  the  war  between  Eng 
land  and  France,  he  was  sent,  by  the  French  government,  to  the  American 


LADY  MOORE.  65 

Another  of  our  foreign  guests,  was  one  Badourin,  who  wore  a 
white  cockade,  and  gave  himself  out  for  a  general  in  the  Austrian 
service ;  but  whether  general  or  not,  he,  one  night,  very  unex 
pectedly  left  his  quarters,  making  a  masterly  retreat  with  the  loss 
of  no  other  baggage  than  that  of  an  old  trunk,  which,  when 
opened,  was  found  to  contain  only  a  few  old  Latin  and  German 
books.  Among  the  former,  was  a  folio,  bound  in  parchment, 
which  I  have  now  before  me ;  it  is  a  ponderous  tract  of  the  mys 
tical  Robert  Fludd,  alias  de  Fluctibus,  printed  at  Oppenheim  in 
the  year  1618,  and  in  part  dedicated  to  the  duke  de  Guise,  whom 
the  author  informs  us  he  had  instructed  in  the  art  of  war.  It  is 
to  this  writer  probably,  that  Butler  thus  alludes  in  his  Hudi- 
bras: 

He,  Anthroposophus  and  Floud, 
And  Jacob  Behman  understood. 

From  this  work  of  Mr.  Fludd,  \vhich  among  a  fund  of  other 
important  matter,  treats  of  astrology  and  divination,  it  is  not  im 
probable  that  its  quondam  possessor  Mr.  Badourin,  might  have 
been  a  mountebank-conjuror,  instead  of  a  general. 

Among  those  of  rank  from  Great  Britain  with  whose  residence 
we  were  honoured,  I  recollect  Lady  Moore  and  her  daughter,  a 

colonies,  in  order  to  learn  the  points  in  which  they  were  most  vulnerable,  and 
how  far  the  seeds  of  discontent  might  be  sown  in  them  towards  the  mother 
country.  He  was  seized,  while  in  the  performance  of  his  commission,  as  a  sus 
pected  person,  but  escaped  detection.  He  then  went  to  Canada,  where  he  re 
mained  until  its  conquest  by  the  British,  after  which  he  returned  to  France.  In 
1777,  during  the  war  of  the  revolution,  he  came  a  second  time  to  the  United 
States,  and  offered  his  services  to  Congress.  They  were  accepted,  and  he  was 
soon  after  made  a  major-general.  At  first  hd  was  placed  in  the  northern  army, 
but,  when  the  danger  which  threatened  Charleston  from  the  formidable  expedition 
under  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  in  1778,  rendered  it  necessary  to  reinforce  the  American 
troops  in  the  South,  a  detachment  was  sent  to  them,  consisting  of  the  Maryland 
and  Delaware  lines,  which  were  put  under  his  command.  Before  he  could  arrive, 
however,  at  the  scene  of  action,  General  Lincoln  had  been  made  prisoner,  and  the 
direction  of  the  whole  southern  army  devolved  upon  the  Baron,  until  the  appoint 
ment  of  General  Gates.  On  the  15th  of  August,  Gates  was  defeated  near  Cam- 
den  by  Lord  Rawdon,  and,  in  the  battle,  De  Kalb,  who  commanded  the  right 
wing,  fell,  covered  with  wounds,  while  gallantly  fighting  on  foot.  A  tomb  was 
erected  to  his  memory,  by  order  of  Congress,  in  the  cemetery  of  Camden. — 
Ency.  Amer. — ED. 

6* 


66  LADY  MOORE WOODWARD. 

sprightly  Miss,  not  far  advanced  in  her  teens,  and  who  having 
apparently  no  dislike  to  be  seen,  had  more  than  once  attracted 
my  attention.*  For  I  was  just  touching  that  age  when  such  ob 
jects  begin  to  be  interesting  and  excite  feelings,  which  disdain  the 
invidious  barriers,  with  'which  the  pride  of  condition  would  sur 
round  itself.  Not  that  the  young  lady  was  stately ;  my  vanity 
rather  hinted,  she  was  condescendingly  courteous ;  and  I  had 
no  doubt,  read  of  women  of  quality  falling  in  love  with  their  in 
feriors  :  Nevertheless,  the  extent  of  my  presumption  was  a  look 
or  a  bow,  as  she  now  and  then  tripped  along  through  the  entry. 
Another  was  Lady  Susan  O'Brien,  not  more  distinguished  by  her 
title,  than  by  her  husband,  who  accompanied  her,  and  had  figured 
as  a  comedian  on  the  London  stage,  in  the  time  of  Garrick,  Mos- 
sop  and  Barry.  Although  Churchill  charges  him  writh  being  an 
imitator  of  Woodward,!  he  yet  admits  him  to  be  a  man  of  parts; 

*  Sir  Henry  Moore>  the  last  British  governor  of  New  York,  that  I  remember, 
(says  Mrs.  Grant,)  came  up  this  summer  to  see  Albany  and  the  ornament  of 
Albany,  Aunt  Schuyler ;  he  brought  Lady  Moore  and  his  daughter  with  him. 
This  is  the  same  family  alluded  to  in  the  text,  but  I  was  not  aware  (says  the 
author  in  a  MS.  note)  that  Sir  Henry  was  governor  of  New  York.  Mrs. 
Grant  and  myself,  probably  not  differing  much  in  age,  appear  nearly  at  the  same 
time  to  have  been  looking  back  on  the  scenes  of  our  youth,  and  to  have  brought 
to  remembrance  not  only  some  of  the  characters,  but  to  have  coincided  in  our 
remarks  on  several  subjects.  The  Miss  Moore  alluded  to,  I  remember  to  have 
heard,  was,  some  years  after  the  time  of  this  our  joint  recognition  of  her,  consi 
dered  as  an  elegant  woman  in  England,  where,  it  was  said,  she  led  the  fashions, 
t  WOODWARD,  endowed  with  various  powers  of  facev 

Great  master  in  the  science  of  grimace,. 

From  Ireland  ventures,  favourite  of  the  town, 

Lur'd  by  the  pleasing  prospect  of  renown  ; 

A  squeaking  Harlequin  made  up  of  whimr 

He  twists,  he  twines,  he  tortures  every  limb, 

Plays  to  the  eye  with  a  mere  monkey's  art 

And  leaves  to  sense  the  conquest  of  the  heart. 

We  laugh,  indeed,  but  on  reflection's  birth, 

We  wonder  at  ourselves,  and  curse  our  mirth, 

His  walk  of  parts  he  fatally  misplaced, 

And  inclination  fondly  took  for  taste  ; 

Hence  hath  the  Town  so  often  seen  displayed 

Beau  in  burlesque,  high  life  in  masquerade, 

But  when  bold  wits,  not  such  as  patch  up  plays, 

Cold  and  correct  in  these  insipid  days, 


LADY  MOORE WOODWARD.  67 

and  he  has  been  said  to  have  surpassed  all  his  cotemporaries  in 
the  character  of  the  fine  gentleman ;  in  his  easy  manner  of  tread 
ing  the  stage,  and  particularly  of  drawing  the  sword,  to  which 
action  he  communicated  a  swiftness  and  a  grace  which  Garrick 
imitated,  but  could  not  equal.*  O'Brien  is  presented  to  my 
recollection  as  a  man  of  the  middle  height,  with  a  symmetrical 
form,  rather  light  than  athletic.  Employed  by  the  father  to  in 
struct  Lady  Susan  in  elocution,  he  taught  her,  it  seems,  that  it  was 
no  sin  to  love ;  for  she  became  his  wife,  and,  as  I  have  seen  it 
mentioned  in  the  Theatrical  Mirror,  obtained  for  him,  through  the 
interest  of  her  family,  a  post  in  America.  But  what  this  post  was, 
or  where  it  located  him,  I  never  heard. 

A  third  person  of  celebrity  and  title  was  sir  William  Draper,! 

Some  comic  character,  sfcrong.featured,  urge 

To  probability's  extremest  verge, 

Where  modest  judgment  her  decree  suspends, 

And  for  a  time,  nor  censures,  nor  commends, 

Where  critics  can't  determine  on  the  spot, 

Whether  it  is  in  Nature  found  or  not, 

There  WOODWARD  safely  shall  his  powers  exert, 

Nor  fail  of  favour  where  he  shows  desert. 

Hence  he  in  Bobadil  such  praises  bore, 

Such  worthy  praises,  Kitely  scarce  had  more. 

ChurchiWs  Rosciad. — Er>. 

*  Shadows  behind  of  FOOTE  and  Wood  WARD  came; 
WILKINSON  this,  O'BRIEN  was  that  name. 
Strange  to  relate,  but  wonderfully  true, 
That  even  shadows  have  their  shadows  too ! 
With  not  a  single  comic  power  endued 
The  first  a  mere  mere  mimic's  mimic  stood. 
The  last,  by  nature  formed  to  please,  who  shows, 
In  Johnson's  Stephen,  which  way  Genius  grows ; 
Self  quite  put  off,,  affects,  with  too  much  art, 
To  put  on  WOODWARD  in  each  mangled  part ; 
Adopt  his  shrug,  his  wink,  his  stare  :  nay,  more, 
His  voice  and  croaks  ;  for  Woodward  croak'd  before. 
When  the  dull  copier  simple  grace  neglects, 
And  rests  his  Imitation  in  defects, 
We  readily  forgive ;  but  such  vile  arts 
Are  double  guilt  in  men  of  real  parts. 

ChurchiWs  Rosciad. — ED. 

t  Vide  correspondence  in  the  "  Letters  of  Junius."     In  his  celebrated  contro 
versy  with  the  "  great  unknown,"  sir  William  displayed  a  degree  of  ability  and 


68  SIR  WILLIAM  DRAPER FRANK  RICHARDSON. 

who  made  a  tour  to  this  country,  a  short  time  after  his  newspaper 
encounter  with  Junius.  It  has  even  been  suggested  that  this  very 
incident  sent  the  knight  on  his  travels.  Whether  or  not,  it  had 
so  important  a  consequence,  it  cannot  be  denied,  that  sir  William 
caught  a  tartar  in  Junius ;  and  that  when  he  commenced  his  attack, 
he  had  evidently  underrated  his  adversary. 

During  his  stay  in  Philadelphia,  no  one  was  so  assiduous  in 
his  attentions  to  him  as  Mr.  Richardson,  better  known  at  that 
time  by  the  name  of  Frank  Richardson,  then  from  England  on  a 
visit  to  his  friends.  This  gentleman  was  one  of  the  most  singular 
and  successful  of  American  adventurers.  The  son  of  one  of  our 
plainest  Quakers,  he  gave  early  indications  of  that  cast  of  character 
which  has  raised  him  to  his  present  station,  that  of  a  colonel  in 
the  British  guards.  At  a  time,  when  such  attainments  formed  no 
part  of  education  in  Pennsylvania,  he  sedulously  employed  him 
self,  in  acquiring  skill  in  the  use  of  the  small  sword  and  the  pistol, 
as  if  to  shine  as  a  duellist,  had  been  the  first  object  of  his  ambi 
tion.  Either  for  a  contempt  for  the  dull  pursuits  of  the  "  home 

skill  that  challenged  the  admiration  even  of  his  relentless  adversary.  He  attained 
the  rank  of  General  in  the  British  army.  He  was  born  at  Bristol,  (England) 
where  his  father  held  the  post  of  collector  of  the  customs.  He  was  thoroughly 
educated  at  Eton  and  at  Cambridge.  In  1763,  he  was  "conquerer  of  Manilla." 
He  arrived  at  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  in  January,  1770,  and  during  the  sum- 
mer  of  that  year  visited  Maryland  where  he  was  received  with  much  hospitality. 
From  Maryland  he  passed  into  New-York,  and  while  there,  was  married  to  Miss 
De  Lancey,  who  died  in  1778,  leaving  him  a  daughter.  In  1779,  he  was  ap 
pointed  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Minorca.  He  died  at  Bath,  January,  1787. 

WRAXALL  says  he  was  "  a  man  hardly  better  known  to  posterity  by  his  cap- 
lure  of  Manilla,  than  by  his  correspondence  with  JUNIUS.  He  was  endowed 
with  talents  which,  waether  excited  in  the  field  or  in  the  closet,  entitled  him  to 
great  consideration.  His  vanity,  which  led  him  to  call  his  house  at  Clifton,  near 
Bristol,  "  Manilla  Hall,"  and  there  to  erect  a  cenotaph  to  his  fellow-soldiers,  who 
fell  before  that  city  during  the  siege  exposed  him  to  invidious  comments.  *  * 
JUNIUS'S  obligations  to  his  officious  friendship  for  the  Marquis  of  Granby  was 
indelible:  for,  however  admirably  written  may  be  his  letter  of  the  21st  of  Janu 
ary,  1769,  which  opened  the  series  of  those  celebrated  compositions,  it  was  Dra 
per's  answer,  with  his  signature  annexed  to  it,  that  drew  all  eyes  towards  the 
two  literary  combatants.  Great  as  were  JUNIUS'S  talents,  yet,  if  he  had  been 
left  to  exhale  his  resentment  without  notice  or  reply,  he  might  have  found  it 
difficult  to  concenter  on  himself  the  attention  of  all  England. — But,  the  instant 
that  Sir  William  avowedly  entered  the  lists  as  Lord  Granby's  champion,  a  new 
interest  was  awakened  in  the  public  mind." — ED. 


ANECDOTE. 


keeping  youth  "  of  his  day,  or  from  the  singularity  of  his  propen 
sities  repelling  association,  he  was  solitary  and  rarely  with  com 
panions.     Fair  and  delicate  to  effeminacy,  he  paid  great  attention 
to  his  person,  which  he  had  the  courage  to  invest  in  scarlet,  in 
defiance  of  the  society  to  which  he  belonged,  in  whose  mind's 
eye,  perhaps  as  to  that  of  the  blind  man  of  Locke,  this  colour  from 
their  marked  aversion  to  it,  resembles  the  sound  of  a  trumpet; 
and  no  less  in  defiance  of  the  plain  manners  of  a  city,  in  which 
except  on  the  back  of  a  soldier,  a  red  coat  was  a  phenomenon, 
and  always  indicated  a  Creole,  a  Carolinian,  or  a  dancing  master. 
With  these  qualifications,  and  these  alone,  perhaps,  Mr.  Richard 
son,  at  an  early  age,  shipped  himself  for  England,  where  soon, 
having  the  good  fortune  to  establish  a  reputation  for  courage  by 
drawing  his  sword  in  behalf  of  a  young  man  of  rank,  in  a  broil  at 
the  theatre,  he  was  received  into  the  best  company,  and  thence 
laid  the  foundation  of  his  preferment.     Such,  at  least  was  the 
generally  received  account  of  his  rise.     But  whether  accurate  or 
not,  his  intimate  footing  with  sir  William,  is  an  evidence  of  the 
style  of  his  company  whilst  abroad,  as  well  as  of  the  propriety  of 
his  conclusion,  that  his  native  land  was  not  his  sphere.* 

As  the  story  went :  on  Mr.  Richardson's  first  going  to  England, 
he  happened  to  be  in  the  same  lodgings  with  Foote,  the  come 
dian,  with  whom  he  became  intimate.  One  day  upon  his  coming 
out  of  his  chamber,  "Richardson,"  says  Foote  to  him,  "  a  person 
has  just  been  asking  for  you,  who  expressed  a  strong  desire  to 
see  you,  and  pretended  to  be  an  old  Philadelphia  acquaintance. 

But  I  knew  better,  for  he  was  a  d d  ill-looking  fellow,  and  I 

have  no  doubt  the  rascal  was  a  bailiff;  so  I  told  him  you  were 
not  at  home."  But  here  either  Foote's  sagacity  had  been  at  fault, 
or  he  had  been  playing  off  a  stroke  of  his  humour,  the  visiter 
having  really  been  no  other  than  Mr.  -  — ,  a  respectable 

*  He  is  the  same  Richardson  alluded  to  in  the  following  extract  of  a  letter  from 
General  Washington  to  Mr.  Reed,  dated  14th  January,  1776:  "  Mr.  Sayre  has 
been  committed  to  the  tower,  upon  the  information  of  a  certain  Lieutenant  or 
Adjutant  Richardson  (formerly  of  your  city,)  for  treasonable  practices;  an  inten 
tion  of  seizing  his  majesty,  and  possessing  himself  of  the  Tower,  it  is  said  in 
"The  Crisis."  But  he  is  admitted  to  bail  himself  in  five  hundred  pounds,  and 
two  sureties  in  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  each."— Sparks'  Writings  of  Wash, 
ington,  Vol.  iii.  p.  242.— ED. 


70 


MAJOR  ETHERINGTON. 


merchant  of  Philadelphia,  though  not  a  figure  the  most  debonair 
to  be  sure. 

From  Philadelphia,  sir  William  passed  on  to  New- York,  where, 
if  I  mistake  not,  he  married.  During  his  residence  in  that  city, 
he  frequently  amused  himself  with  a  game  of  rackets,  which  he 
played  with  some  address ;  and  he  set  no  small  value  on  the  talent. 
There  was  a  mechanic  in  the  place,  the  hero  of  the  tennis  court, 
who  was  so  astonishingly  superior  to  other  men,  that  there  were 
few  whom  he  could  not  beat  with  one  hand  attached  to  the  handle 
of  a  wheelbarrow.  Sir  William  wished  to  play  with  him,  and  was 
gratified;  the  New-Yorker  having  urbanity  enough  to  cede  the 
splendid  stranger  some  advantages,  and  even  in  conquering,  to 
put  on  the  appearance  of  doing  it  with  difficulty:  Yet,  apart,  he 
declared  that  he  could  have  done  the  same  with  the  incumbrance 
of  the  wheel-barrow.  These  are  heresay  facts:  they  come,  how 
ever,  from  persons  of  credit,  in  the  way  of  being  acquainted  with 
them. 

But  what  imports  it  the  reader  to  know,  that  sir  William  Draper 
was  a  racket-player?  Nothing,  certainly,  unless  we  reflect,  that 
he  was  a  conspicuous  character,  the  conqueror  of  Manilla,  and 
still  more,  the  literary  opponent  of  Junius.  Without  granting 
something  to  celebrity  of  this  latter  sort,  what  possible  interest 
could  we  take  in  learning  that  doctor  Johnson  liked  a  leg  of  pork, 
or  that  he  could  swallow  twelve  or  more  cups  of  tea  at  a° sitting?* 

Major  George  Etherington,  of  the  Royal  Americans,  was  an 
occasional  inmate  of  our  house,  from  its  first  establishment  on  the 
large  scale,  until  the  time  of  its  being  laid  down,  about  the  year 
1774.  He  seemed  to  be  always  employed  in  the  recruiting  ser 
vice,  in  the  performance  of  which,  he  had  a  snug,  economical 

•  Much  attention  was  paid  to  sir  William,  in  Philadelphia,  and  amon*  others 
who  waited  on  him  was  a  Mr.  Wharton,  an  old  Quaker  who,  from  his  pride  and 
affected  dignity  of  manner,  received  the  title  of  Duke.  Sir  William  observing 
that  he  entered  the  room  and  remained  with  his  hat  off,  begged  that  as  it  was 
contrary  to  the  custom  of  his  society  to  do  so,  he  would  dispense  with  this 
unnecessary  mark  of  respect.  But  the  "Duke"  feeling  his  pride  piqued  at  the 
supposition  that  he  should  uncover  to  Sir  William  Draper  or  to  any  other  man, 
promptly  corrected  the  mistake,  into  which  Sir  William's  considerate  politeness 
had  betrayed  him,  by  bluntly  giving  him  to  understand  that  his  being  uncovered, 
was  not  intended  as  a  compliment  to  him,  but  was  for  his  own  convenience  and 
comfort — the  day  being  warm. — ED. 


MAJOR  ETHERINGTON.  71 

method  of  his  own.  He  generally  dispensed  with  the  noisy  cere 
mony  of  a  recruiting  coterie ;  for  having,  as  it  was  said,  and  I 
believe  truly,  passed  through  the  principal  grades  in  its  composi 
tion,  namely,  those  of  drummer  and  sergeant,  he  was  a  perfect 
master  of  the  inveigling  arts  which  are  practised  on  the  occasion, 
and  could  fulfil,  at  a  pinch,  all  the  duties  himself.  The  major's 
forte  was  a  knowledge  of  mankind,  of  low  life  especially ;  and  he 
seldom  scented  a  subject  that  he  did  not,  in  the  end,  make  his 
prey.  He  knew  his  man,  and  could  immediately  discover  a  fish 
that  would  bite :  Hence,  he  wasted  no  time  in  angling  in  wrong 
waters.  His  superior  height,  expansive  frame,  and  muscular 
limbs,  gave  him  a  commanding  air  among  the  vulgar ;  and,  while 
enforcing  his  suit  with  all  the  flippancy  of  halbert  elocution,  he 
familiarly  held  his  booby  by  the  button,  his  small,  black,  piercing 
eyes,  which  derived  additional  animation  from  the  intervention  of 
a  sarcastic,  upturned  nose,  penetrated  to  the  fellow's  soul,  and 
gave  him  distinct  intelligence  of  what  was  passing  there.  In  fact, 
I  have  never  seen  a  man  with  a  cast  of  countenance  so  extremely 
subtile  and  investigating.  I  have  myself,  more  than  once, 
undergone  its  scrutiny ;  for  he  took  a  very  friendly  interest  in  my 
welfare,  evinced  by  an  occasional  superintendance  of  my  educa 
tion,  in  so  far  at  least,  as  respects  the  exterior  accomplishments. 
Above  all  things,  he  enjoined  upon  me  the  cultivation  of  the 
French  language,  of  which  he  had  himself  acquired  a  smattering 
from  a  temporary  residence  in  Canada;  and  he  gave  me  a  pretty 
sharp  lecture  upon  a  resolution  I  had  absurdly  taken  up,  not  to 
learn  dancing,  from  an  idea  of  its  being  an  effeminate  and  un 
manly  recreation.  He  combated,  my  folly  with  arguments,  of 
which  I  have  since  felt  the  full  force ;  but  which,  as  they  turned 
upon  interests,  I  was  then  too  young  to  form  conceptions  of,  they 
produced  neither  conviction  nor  effect.  Fortunately  for  me,  I 
had  to  deal  with  a  man  who  was  not  thus  to  be  baffled.  He 
very  properly  assumed  the  rights  of  mature  age  and  experience, 
and  accordingly,  one  day,  on  my  return  from  school,  he  accosted 
me  with,  "  Come  here  young  man,  I  have  something  to  say  to 
you,"  and  with  a  mysterious  air  conducted  me  to  his  chamber. 
Here  I  found  myself  entrapped.  Godwin,  the  assistant  of  Tioli, 
the  dancing  master,  was  prepared  to  give  me  a  lesson.  Ether- 


72 


ANECDOTE. 


ington  introduced  me  to  him  as  the  pupil  he  had  been  speaking 
of,  and  saying,  he  would  leave  us  to  ourselves,  he  politely  re 
tired.  The  arrangement  with  Tioli  was,  that  I  should  be  attended 
in  the  major's  room  until  I  was  sufficiently  drilled  for  the  public 
school ;  and  the  ice  thus  broken,  I  went  on,  and  instead  of  stand 
ing  in  a  corner,  like  a  goose  on  one  leg  (the  major's  comparison) 
"  while  music  softens  and  while  dancing  fires,"  I -became  qualified 
for  the  enjoyment  of  female  society,  in  one  of  its  most  captivating 
forms. 

Major  Etherington  had  a  brother  in  the  rank  of  a  captain,  so 
like  himself,  as  to  realize  the  story  of  the  two  Socias,  and  to  re 
move  half  the  improbability  of  the  plot  of  Shakspeare's  Comedy 
of  Errors.  Any  one,  at  a  first  sight,  might  have  mistaken  the 
one  for  the  other,  at  least  I  did,  for  a  moment ;  but  on  a  close 
inspection  it  would  be  discovered,  that  the  captain  was  more 
scant  in  his  proportions,  as  well  as  several  years  younger  than 
his  brother.  Tom,  for  so  the  captain  was  familiarly  called  by 
the  major,  had  taken  his  turn  to  recruit  in  Philadelphia,  while  his 
superior  was  employed  elsewhere.  From  a  comparatively  weaker 
discernment  of  human  character,  he  had  enlisted  a  lad  and  con 
verted  him  into  his  waiting  man,  whom  George,  on  a  junc 
tion  which  soon  after  took  place,  pronounced  to  be  a  fool,  and 
wholly  unfit  for  a  soldier.  This  the  captain  denied  strenuously, 
and  the  question  became  the  frequent  topic  of  good  humoured 
altercation  between  them,  until  an  incident  occurred,  which  gave 
the  major  an  unequivocal  triumph.  One  morning  very  early,  the 
brothers  lodging  in  the  same  apartment,  this  recruit,  and  for  the 
first  time,  common  servant  of  the  two,  softly  approached  the  bed 
of  the  major,  and  gently  tapping  him  on  the  shoulder  to  awaken 
him,  very  sapiently  inquired,  if  he  might  clean  his  shoes.  George, 
with  infinite  presence  of  mind,  replied,  that  it  was  not  material, 
but  "  go,"  says  he,  "  and  ask  my  brother  Tom  if  you  may  clean 
his."  The  poor  fellow  did  as  he  was  bid,  and  probably  as  he 
would  have  done  if  he  had  not  been  bidden ;  and  Tom's  slumbers 
became  victims  also,  to  the  same  momentous  investigation.  The 
major  took  care  to  relate  the  circumstance  at  the  breakfast  table, 
and,  of  course,  obtained  a  unanimous  suffrage  to  his  opinion,  that 
the  captain's  recruit  was  not  exceeding  wise. 


MAJOR  ETHERINGTON ANECDOTE.  73 

Although  Etherington  was  extremely  deficient  in  literature,  few 
persons  possessed  more  acuteness  of  intellect,  or  a  happier  talent 
for  prompt  replication.  A  warm  dispute  having  one  day  taken 
place  at  the  coffee-house,  between  Mr.  Bradford,  who  kept  it, 
and  Mr.  Delancey  of  New  York,  in  which  the  parties  appeared 
to  be  proceeding  to  blows,  major  Etherington  stepped  between 
them  and  separated  them.  The  next  day,  on  a  supposition  of 
partiality  to  Delancey,  he  was  roundly  taken  to  task  by  Bradford* 
He  observed,  that  he  had  merely  interfered  as  a  common  friend 
to  both.  "No  sir,"  said  Bradford,  "you  were  the  decided 
champion  of  Delancey,  you  laid  your  hands  upon  me,  and  kept 
your  face  to  me,  while  your  back  was  turned  to  him."  "Very 
well  then,  sir,"  said  Etherington,  with  quickness,  "I  treated  you 
politely,  and  Mr.  Delancey  with  a  rudeness  for  which  I  owe  him 
an  apology."  A  ready,  unexpected  turn  of  this  kind,  has  always 
a  good  effect  on  the  bystanders,  and  they  accordingly  lent  their 
aid  in  restoring  good  humour.* 

As  I  have  said  that  the  major  commenced  his  military  career  in 
the  humblest  walks  of  his  profession,  the  reader  may  expect  to 
hear  of  the  exploits  which  produced  his  extraordinary  promotion. 

*  There  is  another  instance  of  his  mental  readiness,  I  had  introduced  into  my 
manuscript,  but  which  I  was  advised  to  suppress,  as  it  was  supposed  to  offer 
matter  for  malignant  interpretation.  But  as  I  find  my  mother's  character  is 
well  understood  and  remembered,  I  see  no  objection  to  introducing  it  now ;  nor 
for  my  own  part,  did  I  before.  The  major,  one  day,  in  passing  the  kitchen  door, 
received  upon  his  clothes  a  little  dirty  water  which  Miss  Ann  Burgess,  the  elderly 
Quaker  lad}',  already  mentioned  as  one  of  the  family,  had,  without  seeing  him, 
cast  out  of  a  bowl.  The  major  was  more  disturbed  at  the  accident  than  might 
have  been  expected  from  one  of  his  character,  and  was  not  quite  appeased  by  the 
evident  concern  and  all  the  excuses  the  culprit  could  make,  when  she  thought 
proper  to  set  before  him  the  conduct  of  Major  Small,  when  a  precisely  similar 
accident  which  some  time  before  had  happened  to  him  from  the  hands  of  my 
mother,  aggravated,  too,  by  the  circumstance  of  his  having  been  full  dressed  for 
an  assembly,  a  toilet  labour  no  less  arduous  with  him,  than  the  five  hours  work 
of  the  haughty  Cclia  of  Swift.  Instead,  said  she,  of  Major  Small's  refusing  to 
be  satisfied  with  her  apologies,  lie  made  her  a  low  bow,  begged  that  she  would 
be  under  no  concern  about  the  matter,  and,  very  respectfully,  walked  up  to  her 
and  kissed  her.  Then  I  am  to  kiss  you,  I  suppose,  Eh  !  said  Etherington.  This 
lucky  hit,  while  it  alarmed  and  completely  embarrassed  the  maidenly  preciseness 
of  the  old  lady,  not  aware  that  she  had  given  an  opening  for  it,  put  Etherington 
into  a  good  humour  and  amicably  terminated  the  affair. 
7 


74  MAJOR  ETHERINGTON. 

But  it  was  not  to  martial  prowess  that  he  owed  it.  The  world 
gave  out,  that  a  certain  wealthy  widow  of  the  county  of  New 
Castle,  became  enamoured  of  him,  and  first  purchased  him  a 
commission.  His  saving  knowledge  soon  enabled  him  to  pur 
chase  a  better  one,  and  from  a  captaincy,  the  station  in  which  I 
first  knew  him,  he  had  risen  to  that  of  a  colonel,  when  I  last  saw 
him  in  Philadelphia,  just  at  the  approach  of  the  war.  What  then 
brought  him  there  is  uncertain.  He  was,  however,  taken  notice 
of  by  the  committee  of  safety;  required  to  hasten  his  departure, 
and  in  the  mean  time,  put  under  his  parole.  He  endeavoured  to 
make  a  jest  of  the  matter,  by  assuring  them,  that  they  need  not 
be  under  the  least  apprehension  of  his  going  an  inch  nearer  to  the 
scene  where  fighting  was  to  be  looked  for.  He  several  times 
called  to  see  us  while  in  town,  and  observing  me  in  the  light  in 
fantry  uniform,  he  undertook  to  recommend  to  me,  between 
banter  and  earnest,  that  if  I  inclined  to  a  military  life,  at  once  to 
get  a  commission  in  the  British  service,  which  he  would  charge 
himself  to  procure  for  me :  That  as  to  our  idle  parade  of  war,  it 
would  vanish  in  smoke,  or,  if  seriously  persisted  in,  would  infalli 
bly  terminate  in  our  disgrace,  if  not  ruin.  I  asked  him  if  he  had 
been  to  see  us  exercise.  "  Oh  no,"  said- he,  "that  would  be 
highly  improper ;  we  make  it  a  point  in  the  army  never  to  look 
at  awkward  men;  we  hold  it  unpolite."  The  colonel  was  no 
doubt  correct  in  his  opinion  of  our  tactics ;  though  I  was  nettled 
a  little  at  his  contemptuous  manner  of  treating  us.  But  I  here 
dismiss  him  with  the  observation,  that  he  was  a  singular  man, 
who  knew  the  world  and  turned  that  knowledge  to  his  advantage. 
He  had  certainly  much  mental  ability,  and  of  a  cast,  which  he 
himself  conceived  would  have  well  qualified  him  for  the  bar;  a 
profession,  for  which,  he  has  told  me,  nature  intended  him.  In 
this  estimate  of  his  talents,  however,  it  is  not  improbable,  that  he 
might  have  attributed  too  much  to  management  and  chicane, 
which  had  essentially  availed  him  in  the  business  of  recruiting : 
For  he  valued  himself  upon  them  here ;  and  I  well  remember 
that  upon  my  mother's  telling  him  of  captain  Anstruther,  who 
had  recruited  in  his  absence,  sending  a  drum  about  before  he  left 
the  city,  to  proclaim,  that  if  any  one  had  been  aggrieved  by  him 
or  his  party,  to  call  upon  him  and  he  should  be  redressed,  he  re- 


GENERAL  REID WARREN.  75 

plied — "And  was'nt  he  a  d d  fool  for  his  pains?"  In  men 
tioning  captain  Anstruther  it  occurs  to  me,  that  he  may  be  the 
same  who  is  stated  to  have  fallen  as  a  general  officer  in  the  battle 
of  Corunna. 

There  were  two  other  majors,  with  whose  company  we  w^ere  a 
long  time  favoured.  These  were  Majors  Small  and  Fell;  and  if 
names  had  any  appropriation  to  the  persons  of  those  who  bear 
them,  these  might  very  well  have  been  interchanged ;  for  Small 
was  a  stout,  athletic  man,  who  might  be  supposed  to  possess  a 
capacity  forfeiting,  while  the  other  was  one  of  the  smallest  men 
I  have  seen.  Some  one  asking,  one  day,  if  major  Small  was  at 
home?  "No,"  says  Fell,  "but  the  small  major  is."  Small  is  a 
principal  figure  in  Trumbull's  print  of  the  death  of  Warren.  He 
is  represented  in  the  humane  attitude  of  putting  aside  writh  his 
sword,  a  British  bayonet,  aimed  at  the  breast  of  the  dying  patriot.* 

Another  officer  of  the  British  army,  who  was  some  time  our  in 
mate,  is  suggested  by  a  notice  of  his  death  in  the  Monthly  Maga 
zine  of  March,  1807.  This  \vas  General  John  Reid,  who  is  stated 
to  have  died  in  his  87th  year,  the  oldest  officer  in  the  service.  In 
this  account  of  him,  it  is  said,  that  in  the  meredian  of  his  life, 
he  was  esteemed  the  best  gentleman  German  flute  performer  in 
England :  that  he  was  also  particularly  famed  for  his  taste  in  the 
composition  of  military  music,  and  that  his  marches  are  still  ad 
mired.  This  gentleman  was  a  colonel  at  the  time  I  speak  of  him. 
His  fame  as  a  performer  on  the  flute  I  recollect,  as  also  to  have 
heard  him  play :  but  probably  I  was  too  little  of  a  connoiseur  to 
duly  appreciate  his  talents.  I  cannot  say  that  my  expectations  were 
fully  answered ;  his  tones  were  low  and  sweet,  but  the  tunes  he 
played  were  so  disguised  and  overloaded  with  variations,  as  with 
me  to  lose  much  of  their  melody. 

From  these  gentlemen  of  the  army,  I  pass  to  one  of  the  navy, 
rude  and  boisterous  as  the  element  to  which  he  belonged.  His 
name  I  think  was  Wallace,  the  commander  of  a  ship  of  war  on 
the  American  station,  and  full  fraught,  perhaps,  with  the  ill  humour 
of  the  mother  country  towards  her  colonies,  which  she  was  already 

*  See  Appendix  C,  for  an  interesting  account  of  the  battle  of  Bunker's 
Hill.— ED. 


76 


CAPTAIN  WALLACE JOSEPH  CHURCH. 


beginning  to  goad  to  independence.  His  character  upon  the 
coast,  was  that  of  being  insolent  and  brutal  beyond  his  peers ; 
and  his  deportment  as  a  lodger,  was  altogether  of  a  piece  with  it. 
Being  asked  by  my  mother,  who,  by  the  desire  of  the  gentlemen, 
was  in  the  custom  of  taking  the  head  of  her  table,  if  he  would  be 
helped  to  a  dish  that  was  near  her,  "  Damme,  madam,"  replied 
the  ruffian,  "  it  is  to  be  supposed  that  at  a  public  table  every  man 
has  a  right  to  help  himself,  and  this  I  mean  to  do."  With  a  tear 
in  her  eye  she  besought  him  to  pardon  her,  assuring  him  that  in 
future  he  should  not  be  offended  by  her  officiousness. 

At  another  time,  when  Joseph  Church  of  Bristol,  who  has 
already  been  mentioned  as  a  friend  of  the  family,  was  in  town 
and  at  our  house,  which,  in  his  visits  to  the  city,  he  always  made 
his  home,  my  mother  mentioned  to  the  gentlemen,  who  were 
about  sitting  down  to  supper,  but  three  or  four  in  number,  of 
whom  captain  Wallace  was  one,  that  there  was  a  friend  of  hers  in 
the  house,  a  very  honest,  plain  man  of  the  society  of  Friends,  and 
begged  to  know  if  it  would  be  agreeable  to  them  that  he  should 
be  brought  in  to  supper.  They  all  readily  assented,  and  none 
with  more  alacrity  than  Wallace.  Accordingly  Mr.  Church  was 
introduced,  and  sat  down.  During  supper,  the  captain  directed 
his  chief  discourse  to  him,  interlarded  with  a  deal  of  very  course 
and  insolent  raillery  on  his  broad  brim,  &c.  Church  bore  it  all 
very  patiently  until  after  supper,  when  he  at  length  ventured  to 
say — "Captain,  thou  has  made  very  free  with  me,  and  asked  me 
a  great  many  questions,  which  I  have  endeavoured  to  answer  to 
thy  satisfaction :  Wilt  thou  now  permit  me  to  ask  thee  one  in  my 
turn?"  "Oh,  by  all  means,"  exclaimed  the  captain,  "any  thing 
that  you  please,  friend — what  is  it?"  "  Why,  then,  I  wish  to  be 
informed,  what  makes  thee  drink  so  often ;  art  thou  really  dry 
every  time  thou  earnest  the  liquor  to  thy  mouth?"  This  was  a 
home  thrust  at  the  seaman,  whose  frequent  potations  had  already 
produced  a  degree  of  intoxication.  At  once,  forgetting  the 
liberties  he  had  taken,  and  the  promise  he  had  given  of  equal 
freedom  in  return,  he  broke  out  into  a  violent  rage,  venting  him 
self  in  the  most  indecent  and  illiberal  language,  and  vociferating, 
with  an  unlucky  logic  which  recoiled  upon  himself — "What!  do 
you  think  I  am  like  a  hog,  only  to  drink  when  I  am  dry  ?"  But 


RIVINGTON,  THE  PRINTER.  77 

matters  had  gone  too  far  for  a  reply ;  and  the  object  of  his  wrath 
very  prudently  left  the  table  and  the  room  as  expeditiously  as 
possible.  It  cannot  be  denied,  that  there  was  some  provocation 
in  the  question  proposed :  but  he  knows  little  of  the  Quaker  cha 
racter,  who  does  not  know,  that  the  non-resisting  tenent  does 
not  prohibit  the  use  of  dry  sarcasm,,  which  here  was  unquestion 
ably  in  its  place. 

It  would  be  easy  to  extend  these  biographical  details  ;  but  my 
materials,  at  best,  are  too  deficient  in  interest  to  warrant  much 
presumption  on  the  patience  of  the  reader :  I  shall  therefore  only 
add  to  the  list,  the  names  of  Hancock*  and  Washington,  each  of 
whom  had  at  different  times  sojourned  at  our  caravansary. 

Yet  another,  of  some  eminence,  though  not  exactly  in  the  same 
kind,  whom  I  ought  not  to  omit,  was  Rivington,  the  printer,  of 
New  York.  This  gentleman's  manners  and  appearance  were 
sufficiently  dignified ;  and  he  kept  the  best  company.  He  was 
an  everlasting  dabbler  in  theatrical  heroics.  Othello,  was  the 
character  in  which  he  liked  best  to  appear ;  and  converting  his 
auditory  into  the  "  most  potent,  grave  and  reverend  signiors"  of 
Venice,  he  would  deliver  his  unvarnished  tale  : 

"  Her  father  lov'd  me,  oft  invited  me,"  &c. 

With  the  same  magic  by  which  the  listening  gentlemen  were 
turned  into  senators,  my  mother  was  transformed  into  Desde- 
mona ;  and  from  the  frequent  spoutings  of  Rivington,  the  officers 
of  the  42d  regiment,  and  others,  who  were  then  in  the  house, 
became  familiarized  to  the  appellation,  and  appropriated  it. 
Thus,  Desdemona,  or  rather  Desdy,  for  shortness,  was  the  name 
she  generally  afterwards  went  by  among  that  set  of  lodgers  ;  and 
I  recollect  the  concluding  line  of  a  poetical  effusion  of  Lieute 
nant  Rumsey  of  the  42d,  on  occasion  of  some  trifling  fracas,  to 
have  been — 

"  For  Desdy,.  believe  me,  you  don't  become  airs  !" 

In  the  daily  intercourse  with  her  boarders,  which  my  mother's 
custom  of  sitting  at  the  head  of  her  table  induced,  such  fami 
liarities  might  be  excused.  They  were  only  to  be  repelled,  at 

*  For  a  Sketch  of  the  Life  and  Character  of  Hancock,  see  Appendix  D.— ED. 

7* 


78  RIVINGTON,  THE  PRINTER. 

least,  by  a  formal  austerity  of  manner,  which  was  neither  natural 
to  her,  nor  for  her  interest  to  assume.  The  cause  of  umbrage 
was  a  midnight  riot,  perpetrated  by  Rumsey,  Rivington  and  Doc 
tor  Kearsley,  in  which  the  doctor,  mounted  on  horseback,  rode 
into  the  back  parlour,  and  even  up  stairs,  to  the  great  disturbance 
and  terror  of  the  family ;  for,  as  it  may  well  be  supposed,  there 
was  a  direful  clatter.  Quadrupedante  sonitu  qwtit  ungula 
domum. 


DANGERS  OF  IDLENESS.  79 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Author  mixes  in  new  Society. — Is  destined  for  the  Law. — His  characteristic 
Indolence. — American  players. — Anecdotes. — Dramatic  Poetry. — Author's  pur- 
suits. — Debating  Society. — Metaphysical  subtleties. — Causes  of  youthful  fol 
lies. — Letters  of  Junius. — Tamoc  Caspipina. — Mr.  Duche. 


ABOUT  the  year  1769  or  1770,  my  grandfather  died.  My  in 
attention  to  dates  disqualifies  me  for  fixing  the  year,  nor  is  it  ma 
terial.  His  disorder  was  a  complication  of  dropsy  and  asthma. 
I  well  remember  being  with  him  a  few  evenings  before  his  death, 
and  seldom  saw  him  in  better  spirits.  He  was  anticipating  my 
future  consequence  in  life ;  and,  as  like  too  many  others,  I  was 
destined  in  vain, 

D'une  robe  a  longs  plis  balayer  le  barreau — 
To  sweep,  with  full-slccv'd  robe,  the  dusty  bar.* 

He  was  making  himself  merry  with  the  fancy  of  my  strutting  with 
my  full-bottomed  periwig  and  small  sword,  the  costume  he  attached 
to  a  bannister  of  law,  as  he  was  pleased  to  term  what  in  England  is 
called  a  barrister.  But  it  will  be  recollected,  that  I  have  already 
said  that  the  old  gentleman  was  a  German,  no  great  adept  in  English, 
and  let  me  add,  no  great  scholar  in  any  language ;  although  his  man 
ners  were  those  of  a  man  of  the  world,  and  a  frequenter  of  good 
company,  somewhat  blunt,  however,  and  occasionally  facetious. 
The  story  of  the  toper  and  flies,  worked  up  into  an  ode  by  Peter 
Pindar,  I  have  more  than  once  heard  related  of  him.  The  scene 
was  laid  in  Philadelphia,  where,  being  at  a  friend's  house  to  dine, 

*  This  quotation  would  apply  better,  or  at  least  more  literally,  if  gowns  had 
been  worn  at  our  bar. 


80  DANGERS  OF  IDLENESS. 

and  asked  to  take  some  punch  before  dinner,  he  found  several 
flies  in  the  bowl.  He  removed  them  with  a  spoon,  took  his  drink, 
and  with  great  deliberation  was  proceeding  to  replace  them, 
"  Why,  what  are  you  doing,  Mr.  Marks,"*  exclaimed  the  enter 
tainer,  "putting  flies  into  the  bowl  ?"  "  Why,  /don't  like  them," 
said  he,  "but  I  did  not  know  but  you  might," — his  mode  of 
suggesting  that  the  bowl  should  have  been  covered ;  for  decanters 
and  tumblers,  be  it  observed,  are  a  modern  refinement  in  the  ap 
paratus  of  punch  drinking.  Whether  the  story  really  originated 
with  my  grandfather,  and  travelled  from  the  continent  to  the 
islands,  where  Doctor  Wolcott  picked  it  up  ;  or  whether  the  hu 
mour  was  of  insular  origin,  and  merely  borrowed  and  vamped  up 
by  my  grandfather,  I  pretend  not  to  decide,  but  certain  it  is,  that 
he  had  the  credit  of  it  in  Philadelphia,  many  years  before  the 
works  of  Peter  Pindar  appeared. 

If  want  of  occupation,  as  we  are  told,  is  the  root  of  all  evil, 
my  youth  was  exposed  to  very  great  dangers.  The  interval  be 
tween  my  leaving  the  academy,  and  being  put  to  the  study  of  the 
law  at  about  the  age  of  sixteen,  was  not  less  than  eighteen 
months ;  an  invaluable  period,  lost  in  idleness  and  unprofitable 
amusement.  It  had  the  effect  to  estrange  me  for  a  time  from  my 
school-companions,  and,  in  their  stead,  to  bring  me  acquainted 
with  a  set  of  young  men,  whose  education  and  habits  had  been 
wholly  different  from  my  own.  They  were  chiefly  designed  for 
the  sea,  or  engaged  in  the  less  humiliating  mechanical  employ 
ments  ;  and  were  but  the  more  to  my  taste  for  affecting  a  sort  of 
rough  independence  of  manners,  which  appeared  to  me  manly. 
They  were  not,  however,  worthless ;  and  such  of  them  as  were 
destined  to  become  men  and  citizens,  have,  with  few  exceptions, 
filled  their  parts  in  society  with  reputation  and  respectability.  As 
I  had  now  attained  that  stage  in  the  progress  of  the  mind,  in 
which 

Neglected  Tray  and  Pointer  lie 
And  covies  unmolested  fly, 

the  void  was  supplied  by  an  introduction  into  the  fair  society, 
with  which  these  young  men  were  in  the  habit  of  associating.    It 

*  Joseph  Marks;  the  name  might  have  been  mentioned  before.. 


FEMALE  SOCIETY LOVE.  81 

consisted  generally  of  Quakers ;  and  there  was  a  witching  one 
among  them,  with  whom,  at  a  first  interview  in  a  party  on  the 
water,  I  became  so  violently  enamoured,  as  to  have  been  up, 
perhaps,  to  the  part  of  a  Romeo  or  a  Pyramus,  had  the  requisite 
train  of  untoward  circumstances  ensued.  But  as  there  were  no 
feuds  between  our  houses,  nor  unnatural  parents  to  "forbid  what 
they  could  not  prohibit,"  the  matter  in  due  time,  passed  off  with 
out  any  dolorous  catastrophe.  Nor  was  it  long  before  I  was 
translated  into  a  new  set  of  female  acquaintance,  in  which  I  found 
new  objects  to  sigh  for.  Such,  indeed,  I  wras  seldom,  if  ever, 
without,  during  the  rest  of  my  nonage ;  and  with  as  little  reason, 
perhaps,  as  any  one,  to  complain  of  adverse  stars.  Nevertheless, 
I  should  hesitate  in  pronouncing  this  season  of  life  happy.  If  its 
enjoyments  are  great,  so  are  its  solicitudes;  and  although  it 
should  escape  the  pangs  of  "slighted  vows  and  cold  disdain,"  it 
yet  is  racked  by  a  host  of  inquietudes,  doubt,  distrust,  jealousy, 
hope  deferred  by  the  frustration  of  promised  interviews,  and 
wishes  sickening  under  the  wreight  of  obstacles  too  mighty  to  be 
surmounted.  In  the  language  of  the  medical  poet, 


"  The  wholesome  appetites  and  powers  of  life 
Dissolve  in  languor.     Your  cheerful  days  are  gone  ; 
The  generous  bloom  that  flush'd  your  cheeks,  is  fled. 
To  sighs  devoted  and  to  tender  pains, 
Pensive  you  sit,  or  solitary  stray, 
And  waste  your  youth  in  musing." 


But  the  peril  of  fine  eyes,  was  not  the  only  one  which  beset 
me.  During  my  residence  in  the  State-house,  I  had  contracted 
an  intimacy  with  the  second  son  of  Doctor  Thomas  Bond,  who 
lived  next  door ;  a  connexion  which  continued  for  several  years. 
He  was  perhaps  a  year  older  than  myself,  and  had,  in  like  man 
ner,  abandoned  his  studies,  and  prematurely  bidden  adieu  to  the 
college  of  Princeton.  Handsome  in  his  person,  in  his  manner, 
confident  and  assured,  he  had  the  most  lordly  contempt  for  the 
opinion  of  the  world,  that  is,  the  sober  world,  of  any  young  man 
I  have  known  ;  as  well  as  a  precocity  in  fashionable  vices,  equalled 
by  few,  and  certainly  exceeded  by  none.  Admiring  his  talents 


82 


RICHARD  BOND. 


and  accomplishments,  I  willingly  yielded  him  the  lead  in  our 
amusements,  happy  in  emulating  his  degagee  air  and  rakish  ap 
pearance.  He  it  was  wrho  first  introduced  me  to  the  fascination 
of  a  billiard-table,  and  initiated  me  into  the  other  seductive  arcana 
of  city  dissipation.  He  also  showed  me  where  beardless  youth 
might  find  a  Lethe  for  its  timidity,  in  the  form  of  an  execrable 
potion  called  wine,  on  the  very  moderate  terms  of  two  and  six 
pence  a  quart.  At  an  obscure  inn  in  Race  street,  dropping  in 
about  dark,  we  were  led  by  a  steep  and  narrow  stair-case  to  a 
chamber  in  the  third  story,  so  lumbered  with  beds  as  scarcely  to 
leave  room  for  a  table  and  one  chair,  the  beds  superseding  the 
necessity  of  more.  Here  we  poured  down  the  fiery  beverage  ; 
and  valiant  in  the  novel  feeling  of  intoxication,  sallied  forth  in 
quest  of  adventures.  Under  the  auspices  of  such  a  leader,  I 
could  not  fail  to  improve  ;  nor  was  his  progress  less  promoted  by 
so  able  a  second.  In  a  word,  we  aspired  to  be  rakes,  and  were 
gratified.  Mr.  Richard  Bond,  wras  the  favourite  of  his  father, 
studied  physic  under  him,  and  notwithstanding  his  addiction  to 
pleasure,  would  probably  have  made  a  respectable  figure  in  his 
profession :  for  he  had  genius,  no  fondness  for  liquor,  no  unusual 
want  of  application  to  business,  and  vanity,  perhaps,  more  than 
real  propensity,  had  prompted  his  juvenile  excesses.  But  he  was 
destined  to  finish  his  career  at  an  early  age,  by  that  fatal  disease 
to  youth,  a  pulmonary  consumption.  He  had  a  presentiment  of 
this,  and  frequently  said  wiien  in  health,  it  wrould  be  his  mortal 
distemper.  Yet  his  frame  seemed  not  to  indicate  it :  he  had  a  pro 
minent  chest,  with  a  habit  inclined  to  fulness.  Our  intimacy  had 
ceased  for  some  time  before  his  death.  I  know  not  why,  unless 
he  had  been  alienated  by  a  latent  spark  of  jealousy,  in  relation  to 
a  young  lady,  for  whom  we  both  had  a  partiality  ;  mine,  indeed, 
slight  and  evanescent ;  his,  deep  and  more  lasting,  and  which,  I 
have  understood,  only  ended  with  his  life. 

As  it  was  necessary  I  should  be  employed,  the  choice  of  a 
vocation  for  me,  had  for  some  time  engaged  the  attention  of  my 
near  connexions.  The  question  was,  whether  I  should  be  a 
merchant,  a  physician,  or  a  lawyer.  My  inclinations  were  duly 
consulted.  I  had  no  predilection  for  either,  though  I  liked  the 
law  the  least  of  the  three,  being  sensible  that  my  talents  were  not 


CHOICE  OF  A  PROFESSION.  83 

of  the  cast  which  would  enable  me  to  succeed  in  that  profession. 
I  searched  my  composition  in  vain,  for  the  materials  that  would 
be  required.  If  they  were  there,  the  want  of  fortitude  to  bring 
them  forth,  would  be  the  same  as  if  they  were  not;  and  this 
seemed  a  deficiency  I  could  never  supply.  To  rise  at  the  bar 
with  due  gravity  and  recollection ;  to  challenge  the  attention  of 
the  court,  the  jury,  and  the  by-standers;  to  confide  in  my  ability 
to  do  justice  to  a  good  cause ;  to  colour  a  bad  one  by  the  re 
quisite  artifice  and  stimulation ;  and  to  undertake  to  entertain  by 
my  rhetoric,  where  I  must  necessarily  fail  to  convince  by  my 
logic,  I  felt  to  be  a  task  far  beyond  my  strength ;  and  I  shuddered 
at  it,  in  idea  only,  even  in  my  most  sanguine,  self-complacent 
moments.  To  what  this  infirmity,  inaccurately  termed  diffidence, 
is  owing,  or  whether  it  be  a  defect  in  the  mental  or  bodily  powers, 
is  not,  I  believe,  ascertained ;  yet  it  exists  to  a  degree  scarcely  super- 
able  in  some,  while  in  others,  it  is  a  sensation  almost  unknown. 
It  appears,  however,  to  be  considerably  under  the  influence  of 
education,  since,  if  felt  at  all,  it  never  shows  itself  in  a  thorough 
bred  Quaker :  neither  do  we  suppose  it  to  exist  in  a  Frenchman, 
though  the  phrase  mauvaise  honte,  is  a  proof  that  the  imbecility 
has  been  recognised  by  the  nation ;  a  circumstance  we  might  be 
led  to  doubt,  too,  from  the  account  given  by  Doctor  Moore  of  the 
National  Assembly.*  He  tells  us,  that  of  the  great  number  of 
members  of  which  it  was  composed,  there  appeared  to  be  none 
who  could  not  express  themselves  with  perfect  freedom  and  ease  ; 
and  that  there  seemed  to  be  a  continual  competition  for  the  pos 
session  of  the  tribune.  How  different,  he  observes,  from  an  as 
sembly  of  Englishmen!  I  might  add,  of  Americans!  But  that 
the  feeling  is  natural,  if  indeed  there  could  be  a  doubt  of  it ;  that 
it  was  known  to  the  ancients,  and  that  it  is  not  merely  an  effect 
of  modern  manners,  is  evinced  from  the  following  lines  of  Petro- 
nius  on  Dreams,  in  which  the  trepidation  is  not  only  recognised, 
but  very  strongly  depicted. 

*  There  is  a  striking1  coincidence  between  these  observations  and  the  follow 
ing,  in  Miss  Edge  worth's  novel  of  "Patronage."  "Strange  that  France  should 
give  a  name  to  that  malady  of  mind  which  she  never  knew,  or  of  which  she 
knows  less  than  any  other  nation,  upon  the  surface  of  the  civilized  globe !" 


84  DIFFIDENCE MAUVAISE  HONTE. 

"Qui  causas  orare  solcnt,  legesque  forumque 
Et  pavido  cernunt  inclusum  corde  tribunal." 

I  have  said  it  is  inaccurately  termed  diffidence :  it  rather  ap 
pears  to  me,  to  proceed  from  too  much  pride  and  self- attention,  a 
kind  of  morbid  sensibility,  ever  making  self  the  principal  figure 
in  the  scene,  and  overweeningly  solicitous  for  the  respect  of  the 
audience :  dreading,  in  equal  degree,  its  contempt  and  the  humi 
liation  of  a  failure.  Hence,  as  one  that  is  too  fearful  of  falling 
will  never  excel  in  the  hazardous  exercises,  such  as  riding  and 
skating,  so  the  destined  public  speaker  who  will  not  risk  a  fall, 
can  never  expect  to  succeed.  If  he  is  too  fastidious  to  submit  to 
occasional  humiliation,  he  must  undergo  the  perpetual  one  of 
beirig  really,  as  well  as  reputedly  unqualified  for  his  profession. 
Some  diffidence  or  distrust  of  our  powers,  does,  no  doubt,  attend 
the  species  of  mauvaise  honte  we  are  speaking  of;  but  it  is  more 
often,  I  believe,  the  distrust  of  being  able  to  display  the  talents 
we  possess,  or  at  least  ascribe  to  ourselves,  than  an  underrating 
of  them ;  and  appears  to  have  its  primary  cause,  as  already  said, 
in  a  temperament  of  too  much  susceptibility  to  shame, — and  if  so, 
the  French  have  given  it  a  very  proper  appellation. 

But  notwithstanding  my  conviction  of  an  inaptitude  for  the  bar, 
it  was, -however,  the  profession  assigned  me.  I  had  declared  for 
the  study  of  physic,  and  overtures  had  accordingly  been  made  to 
a  practitioner  of  eminence,  but  he  happening  at  the  time  to  have 
as  many  students  as  he  wanted,  declined  taking  another.  Failing 
here,  it  was  deemed  inexpedient  any  longer  to  defer  placing  me 
somewhere.  I  had  certainly  been  already  too  long  unemployed ; 
and  my  uncle,  (the  executor  of  my  father's  will,  in  conjunction 
with  my  mother)  who  had  all  along  been  desirous  that  I  should 
go  to  the  bar,  his  own  profession,  again  recommended  it ;  and 
proposed  taking  me  into  his  own  family,  where,  by  his  assistance, 
the  use  of  his  library,  which  was  a  very  ample  one,  and  an  occa 
sional  attention  to  the  business  of  his  office,  that  of  Prothono- 
tary  of  the  Common  Pleas,  which  he  held  as  deputy  of  the  late 
Governor  Hamilton,  then  residing  at  Bushhill,  I  had  the  means  of 
acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  law,  both  as  to  principle  and  prac 
tice  ;  and  the  proposal  being  in  many  respects  eligible  and  agree- 


AUTHOR  BEGINS  THE  STUDY  OF  LAW.  85 

able,  was  embraced.  I  was  sensible  that  it  was  no  less  to  my 
advantage  than  reputation,  that  I  should  be  doing  something : 
there  was  no  one,  with  whom,  in  the  character  of  a  master,  I  could 
expect  to  be  more  pleasantly  situated  than  with  my  uncle,  who 
was  a  man  of  unbounded  benevolence  and  liberality;  and  my 
imagination  went  to  castle-building  in  the  remote  prospect  of  a 
trip  to  England,  for  the  purpose  of  completing  my  education  at 
the  temple  ;  for  whatever  may  be  the  case  now,  this  was  the  grand 
desideratum  or  summum  bonum  with  the  aspiring  law-youth  of 
my  day.  As  to  the  sober  part  of  the  calculation,  whether  the 
occupation  I  was  about  to  embrace  was  adapted  to  my  talents, 
would  command  my  application,  and  be  likely  to  afford  me  the 
means  of  future  subsistence,  it  was  put  aside  for  the  more  imme 
diately  grateful  considerations  already  mentioned*  I  cannot 
venture  to  pronounce,  however,  that  the  medical  profession  would 
have  suited  me  much  better.  In  truth,  I  was  indolent  to  a  great 
degree ;  and  with  respect  to  that  heroic  fortitude  which  subdues 
the  mind  to  its  purposes,  withdraws  it  at  will  from  the  flowery 
paths  of  pleasure,  and  forces  it  into  the  thorny  road  of  utility, 
the  distinguishing  trait  in  the  character  of  Caesar,  and  which 
justifies  the  poet  in  designating  him  as  "the  world's  great  master, 
and  his  own"  I  have  very  little  to  boast  of.  I  was  ever  too  easily 
seduced  by  the  charm  of  present  gratification,  and  my  general 
mood  in  youth,  was  an  entire  apathy  to  gainful  views.  With  the 
strongest  inclination  to  be  respectable  in  life,  and  even  with  am 
bition  to  aspire  to  the  first  rank  in  my  professsion,  I  yet  felt  an 
invincible  incapacity  for  mingling  in  the  world  of  business,  the 
only  means  by  which  my  desire  could  be  gratified.  My  imagina 
tion,  almost  ever  in  a  state  of  listless,  amorous  delirium, 

Where  honour  still, 

And  great  design,  against  the  oppressive  load^ 
By  fits,  impatient  heaved, 

could  rarely  be  brought  down  to  the  key  of  sober  occupation,  or 
attuned  to  the  flat  fasque,  nefasque  of  the  sages  of  the  law  ;*  and 

*  This  state  of  mind  is  admirably  represented  by  this  short  passage  in  Wa- 
verley :  "  all  that  was  common-place,  all  that  belonged  to  the  every-day  world, 
was  melted  away,  and  obliterated  in  these  dreams  of  imagination." 

8 


86 


HIS  CHARACTERISTIC  INDOLENCE. 


my  acquaintance  with  them,  was  of  course,  a  very  slight  one. 
Were  we  justified  in  laying  our  unthriftiness  on  nature,  I  might 
say,  that  she  never  intended  me  for  a  man  of  business.  If  she 
has  denied  me  the  qualifications  of  an  advocate,  she  has  not  cer 
tainly  been  more  liberal  to  me  of  those  of  a  trafficker ;  for  whether 
it  be  owing  to  pride,  to  dulness,  to  laziness,  or  to  impatience,  I 
could  never  excel  in  driving  a  bargain :  And  as  to  that  spirit  of 
commercial  enterprise  or  speculation,  which  only  asks  the  use  of 
money  to  increase  it,  I  never  possessed  a  spark  of  it;  and  conse 
quently,  though  I  have  sometimes  had  cash  to  spare,  it  rarely,  if 
ever,  was  employed;  for  the  very  good  reason,  that  commodities 
in  my  hands,  always  turned  out  to  be  drugs.  In  thus  character 
izing  myself,  I  affect  not  singularity:  for  the  discomfort  of  my 
declining  age,  I  but  depict  myself  too  truly. 

A  short  time  before  the  epoch  of  my  becoming  a  student  of 
law,  the  city  was  visited  by  the  company  of  players,  since  styling 
themselves,  The  old  American  company.  They  had  for  several 
years  been  exhibiting  in  the  islands,  and  now  returned  to  the 
continent  in  the  view  of  dividing  their  time  and  labours  between 
Philadelphia  and  New- York.  At  Boston, 

they  did  not  appear, 
So  peevish  was  the  edict  of  the  may'r, 

or  at  least  of  those  authorities  which  were  charged  with  the  cus 
tody  of  the  public  morals.  The  manager  was  Douglas,  rather  a 
decent  than  shining  actor,  a  man  of  sense  and  discretion,  married 
to  the  widow  Hallam,  whose  son  Lewis,  then  in  full  culmination, 
was  the  Roscius  of  the  theatre.  As  the  dramatic  heroes  were  all 
his  without  a  competitor,  so  the  heroines  were  the  exclusive  pro 
perty  of  Miss  Cheer,  who  was  deemed  an  admirable  performer. 
The  singing  department  was  supplied  and  supported  by  the 
voices  of  Wools  and  Miss  Wainwright,  said  to  have  been  pupils 
of  doctor  Arne ;  while  in  the  tremulous  drawl  of  the  old  man,  in 
low  jest  and  buffoonery,  Morris,  thence  the  minion  of  the  gallery, 
stood  first  and  unrivalled.  As  for  the  Tomlinsons,  the  Walls, 
the  Aliens,  &c.,  they  were  your  bonifaces,  your  Jessamys,  your 
Mock  Doctors,  and  what  not.  On  the  female  side,  Mrs.  Douglas 
was  a  respectable,  matron-like  dame,  stately  or  querulous  as  oc- 


PHILADELPHIA  THEATRICALS.  87 

casion  required,  a  very  good  Gertrude,  a  truly  appropriate  lady 
Randolph  with  her  white  handkerchief  and  her  weeds ;  but  then, 
to  applaud,  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  forget,  that  to  touch 
the  heart  of  the  spectator  had  any  relation  to  her  function :  Mrs. 
Harman  bore  away  the  palm  as  a  duenna,  and  Miss  Wainwright 
as  a  chambermaid.  Although  these  were  among  the  principal 
performers  at  first,  the  company  was  from  time  to  time  essentially 
improved  by  additions:  Among  these,  the  Miss  Storers,  Miss 
Hallam  and  Mr.  Henry,  were  valuable  acquisitions ;  as  was  also 
a  Mr.  Goodman,  who  had  read  law  in  Philadelphia  with  Mr. 
Ross.  This  topic  may  be  disgusting  to  persons  of  gravity ;  but 
human  manners  are  my  theme,  as  well  in  youth  as  in  age.  Each 
period  has  its  play  things ;  and  if  the  strollers  of  Thespis  have  not 
been  thought  beneath  the  dignity  of  Grecian  history,  this  notice 
of  the  old  American  stagers  may  be  granted  to  the  levity  of  me 
moirs. 

Whether  there  may  be  any  room  for  comparison  between  these, 
the  old  American  company,  and  the  performers  of  the  present 
day,  I  venture  not  to  say.  Nothing  is  more  subject  to  fashion 
than  the  style  of  public  exhibitions ;  and  as  the  excellence  of  the 
Lacedemonian  black  broth,  essentially  depended,  we  are  told, 
on  the  appetite  of  the  feeder,  so,  no  doubt,  does  the  merit  of 
theatrical  entertainments :  I  cannot  but  say,  however,  that  in  my 
opinion,  the  old  company  acquitted  themselves  with  most  anima 
tion  and  glee — they  were  a  passable  set  of  comedians.  Hallam 
had  merit  in  a  number  of  characters  and  was  always  a  pleasing 
performer.  No  one  could  tread  the  stage  with  more  ease:  Upon 
it,  indeed,  he  might  be  said  to  have  been  cradled,  and  wheeled 
in  his  go-cart.  In  tragedy,  it  cannot  be  denied,  that  his  decla 
mation  was  either  mouthing  or  ranting ;  yet  a  thorough  master  of 
all  the  tricks  and  finesse  of  his  trade,  his  manner  was  both  grace 
ful  and  impressive,  "  tears  in  his  eyes,  distraction  in  his  aspect,  a 
broken  voice,  and  his  whole  function  suiting  with  forms  to  his 
conceit."  He  once  ventured  to  appear  in  Hamlet  either  at 
Drury  lane  or  Covent  Garden,  and  was  endured.  In  the  account 
given  of  his  performance,  he  is  said  not  to  have  been  to  the  taste 
of  a  London  audience,  though  he  is  admitted  to  be  a  man  of  a 
pleasing  and  interesting  address.  He  was,  however,  at  Philadel- 


ANECDOTE. 


phia,  as  much  the  soul  of  the  Southwark  theatre,  as  ever  Garrick 
was  of  Drury  lane ;  and  if,  as  doctor  Johnson  allows,  popularity 
in  matters  of  taste  is  unquestionable  evidence  of  merit,  we  cannot 
withhold  a  considerable  portion  of  it  from  Mr.  Hallam,  notwith 
standing  his  faults. 

The  subject  of  this  old  company,  opens  the  door  to  a  trifling 
anecdote  of  a  very  early  origin.  Over  their  stage,  in  imitation 
of  the  sons  of  Drury,  they  have  fixed  the  motto  of  Totus  mundus 
agit  histrionem—rThe  whole  world  act  the  player.  Some  young 
ladies,  one  evening,  among  whom  was  one  of  my  aunts,  applied 
to  the  gentleman  who  attended  them  for  the  meaning  of  the  words. 
Willing  to  pass  himself  off  for  a  scholar,  and  taking  for  his  clew, 
probably,  the  word  mundus,  he  boldly  interpreted  them  into — 
"  We  act  Mondays,  Wednesdays  and  Fridays,"  and  the  ladies 
were  satisfied.  But,  to  the  lasting  disquiet  of  the  unlucky  beau, 
they  were  not  long  after  undeceived  by  some  of  their  more  learned 
acquaintance. 

Although  the  theatre  must  be  admitted  to  be  a  stimulous  to 
those  vices,  which  something  inherent  in  our  nature  renders  es 
sential  to  the  favoured  hero  of  the  comic  drama  and  the  novel,  it 
was  yet  useful  to  me  in  one  respect.  It  induced  me  to  open 
books  which  had  hitherto  lain  neglected  on  the  shelf.  A  little 
Latin,  and  but  a  little,  was  the  chief  fruit  of  my  education.  I 
was  tolerably  instructed  in  the  rudiments  of  grammar,  but  in  no 
thing  else.  I  wrote  a  very  indifferent  hand,  and  spelled  still 
worse  than  I  wrote.  I  knew  little  or  nothing  of  arithmetic ;  that, 
as  a  branch  of  the  mathematics,  being  taught  in  the  academy  after 
the  languages.  But  now  I  became  a  reader  of  plays,  and  parti 
cularly  of  those  of  Shakspeare,  of  which  I  was  an  ardent  and  un 
affected  admirer.  From  these  I  passed  to  those  of  Otway  and 
Rowe,  and  the  other  writers  of  tragedy,  and  thence  to  the  English 
poets  of  every  description.  Poetry,  indeed,  has  continued  to  be 
my  favourite  reading ;  and  when  I  feel  disposed  to  read  aloud,  it 
is  always  my  choice.  From  being  wholly  unapprised  of  the 
structure  of  the  sentences,  and  the  place  of  the  pauses  in  prose, 
the  reading  of  it  requires  much  greater  attention  to  the  manage 
ment  of  the  breath ;  and  is  therefore  to  me,  much  the  most  diffi 
cult  and  laborious.  Nor  has  my  bias  for  metrical  compositions 


DRAMATIC  POETRY.  89 

been  confined  to  the  English  authors.  A  small  knowledge  of 
French  has  enabled  me  to  make  acquaintance  with  the  HENRIADE 
of  Voltaire,  the  poems  of  Boileau,  and  those  of  some  other  writers ; 
and  that  it  has  not  been  more  general,  has  principally  been  owing 
to  want  of  books.  Nevertheless,  I  cannot  but  subscribe  to  the 
decree  of  the  English  critics,  that  the  French  is  not  the  language 
of  the  Muses,  at  least  in  their  sublimer  moods.  What,  for  in 
stance,  can  be  more  completely  unharmonious  and  halting,  than 
these  lines  in  the  Henriade,  which  appear  to  have  been  con^ 
siderably  laboured  to  the  end  of  producing  a  grand  effect? 

"  On  entendoit  gronder  ces  bombes  effroyables, 
De  troubles  de  la  Flandre  enfants  abominables,, 
Le  salt  petre  enfonce  dans  ccs  globes  d'arain, 
Part,  s'cchauffe,  s'embrasev  et  s'ecarte  soudain  :'* 

u  Cannons  and  kettle  drums — sweet  numbers  these.'7'  The  term 
salt  petre,  though  no  doubt  susceptible  of  elegance  in  French 
poetry,  since  it  is  used  by  one  of  its  greatest  masters,  would  in 
ours,  set  all  collocation  at  defiance ;  and  could  appear  in  no  other 
metre  than  doggerel.  Observations,  however,  of  this  kind  should 
not  be  dogmatically  urged,  since  how  far  our  taste  for  melody 
may  be  natural  or  artificial,  is  not  easy  to  ascertain.  But  cer 
tainly  the  music  of  French  numbers  is  extremely  flat  and  mono 
tonous  to  an  English  ear,  though,  to  a  French  one,  our  best-, 
souriding  measure  may  be  sing  song  no  less  vapid. 

In  the  Latin  classics  too,  I  have  been  a  dipper;  and  the  best 
of  my  progress  in  that  language  is  to  be  ascribed  to  my  fondness 
for  its  poetry.  Why  was  I  not,  when  at  school,  imbued  with  the 
same  relish!  I  might  then  have  been  a  scholar,  and  the  whole 
body  of  Roman  poetry,  the  Corpus  omnium  veterum  poetarum 
latinorum,  (a  huge,  unwieldy  tome,  which  had  belonged  to  my 
father)  in  a  chronological  series  from  Andronicus  and  Ennius  to 
Maurus  Terentianus,  might  have  been  at  my  finger  ends ;  whereas 
now,  only  scraps  of  it  are  occasionally  elicited  with  difficulty, 
either  when  disposed  to  learn,  upon  what  subjects  it  was  that  Lu 
cretius,  Catullus,  Tibullus,  Propertius,  Lucanus,  Statins,  &c.  &c. 
had  respectively  employed  their  pens ;  or  when  I  would  follow 
Mr.  Gibbon  in  his  references  to  the  poets  of  later  times,  the  Cal- 

8* 


90 

phurnius's,  the  Nemesianus's,  the  Claudianus's,  the  Prudentius's 
and  Sidonius's.  Still,  according  to  my  manner,  this  was  but  a 
species  of  amusement,  the  dulce  without  a  particle  of  the  utile,  to 
me  who  had  no  manner  of  concern  with  the  decline  of  the  Roman 
empire  or  the  songsters  which  belonged  to  it.  It  was  not  however 
Latin,  but  English  poetry,  which  first  led  me  astray :  I  did  not,  it 
is  true,  pen  stanzas,  but  I  often  read  them  when  I  should  have 
engrossed;  I  had,  as  Junius  says  of  sir  William  Draper,  "the 
melancholy  madness  of  poetry  without  the  inspiration." 

The  only  project  I  embraced  which  promised  advantage  to  me 
in  my  profession,  or  indicated  a  serious  design  to  pursue  it,  was 
my  joining  a  society  of  young  men,  instituted  for  the  purpose  of 
disputing  on  given  subjects,  as  well  as  of  reciting  passages  from 
the  English  classics.  It  chiefly  consisted  of  law  students,  though 
there  were  some  among  us  who  were  designed  for  the  pulpit ;  and 
the  members  were  generally  such  as  had  obtained  degrees  in  the 
seminaries  either  of  Princeton  or  Philadelphia.  The  first  question 
in  which  I  was  appointed  to  take  a  part,  was  that  very  hackneyed 
one,  "Whether  a  public  or  a  private  education  is  to  be  pre 
ferred.'7  There  were  two  on  each  side  ;  and  our  reasonings  were 
reduced  to  writing  and  read  in  full  assembly,  where  the  president 
pro  tempore  made  his  decision.  I  soon  discovered  that  the  argu 
ments  I  had  to  reply  to,  though  proceeding  from  one  of  high 
reputation  for  scholarship,  had  been  borrowed  almost  word  for 
word  from  Rollins's  belles-lettres.  Restrained  by  delicacy  from 
exposing  the  plagiarism,  I  answered  them  as  well  as  I  could  from 
my  own  resources,  and  had  some  allowances  made  me,  since  it 
had  become  pretty  well  known,  that  Rollin  was  my  real  antago 
nist.  In  fact,  my  opponent  would  hardly  have  ventured  to  put 
himself  so  much  in  my  power  by  stealing  from  so  common  a 
book,  had  he  not  calculated  pretty  largely  on  my  unacquaintance 
with  any  books.  It  next  fell  to  me  to  propound  a  question  ;  and 
having  not  long  before  met  with  one  in  a  magazine  which  was 
suggested  as  a  curious  subject  of  investigation,  I  submitted  it  to 
the  assembly.  It  was,  "Whether  there  be  most  pleasure  in  the 
reception,  or  communication  of  knowledge."  As  proposer  of  the 
question  I  had  the  choice  of  my  side,  as  well  as  the  conclusion 
of  the  argument ;  and  I  declared  for  the  "communication."  As 


METAPHYSICAL   SUBTLETIES.  91 

this  was  a  subject  on  which  school  books  gave  no  light,  the  dis 
putants  had  to  draw  solely  from  their  own  funds ;  and  in  some, 
there  was  a  considerable  falling  off.  To  me  the  topic  was  as  new 
as  to  any  of  them ;  but  my  production  had  the  good  fortune  to 
be  approved,  and  to  aid  in  obtaining  the  decision  of  the  president. 
But  I  soon  became  weary  of  this  scholastic  employment.  It  ap 
peared  to  me  both  puerile  and  pedantic ;  and  the  formality  of 
addressing  the  chair  with  the  feigned  gravity  of  a  pleader,  re 
quired  a  kind  of  grimace  I  felt  myself  awkward  at.  Indeed,  the 
two  orations  I  had  written,  like  that  of  Cicero  for  Milo,  were  not 
delivered  by  their  author,  who  did  not  appear ;  but  they  were 
read  for  me  by  my  friend  and  fellow- student,  Andrew  Robeson. 
I  once,  however,  with  this  same  gentleman,  risked  my  declaiming 
powers,  in  a  scene  of  Venice  Preserved  ;  but  in  what  character  I 
appeared  I  do  not  remember. 

I  also  involved  myself  about  this  period,  in  metaphysical 
subtleties;  and  with  Mr.  James  Hutchinson,  the  late  Doctor 
Hutchinson,  who  then  lived  with  Bartram,  the  apothecary,  and 
with  whom  I  had  become  intimate,  I  frequently  reasoned  upon 
fate,  "fixed  fate,  free-will,  fore-knowledge  absolute,"  &c.  Our 
acquaintance  found  cement  in  the  circumstances  of  our  both  being 
Bucks  county  men  and  exactly  of  an  age.  The  doctor's  father, 
Randal  Hutchinson,  a  Quaker,  did  the  mason- work  of  my  father's 
house  at  Fairview;*  and  agreeably  to  the  custom  in  the  country, 
resided  with  him  while  employed  in  it.  From  family  tradition, 
for  I  do  not  remember  old  Randal,  he  was  what  might  be  called 
a  queer  put.  Being  once  called  upon  for  his  song  on  occasion  of 
a  little  merriment,  he  declined  it  with  the  dry  remark  that  he  could 
do  his  own  singing :  and  so  indeed  it  appeared,  as  he  was  in  the 
habit  every  evening  after  work,  of  singing  out  in  rustic  drone  to 
his  hands  assembled  round  him,  a  celebrated  political  poem  of 
that  time,  entitled  The  washing  of  the  Blackmoor  white.  It  was 
levelled,  if  I  do  not  mistake,  at  the  aristocracy  of  the  day ;  and 
if  so,  the  doctor  had  a  sort  of  hereditary  right  to  that  zeal  against 
the  WELL  CORN  of  his  own,  which  has  rendered  his  name  a  fa 
vourite  signature  writh  democratic  essayists.  But  for  all  this,  he 

*  Part  of  this  farm  was  subsequently  converted  into  an  occasional  race-ground. 


92  MORALITY  OF  FICTITIOUS  HEROES. 

was  a  friendly  man,  and  no  foe  to  good  company ;  and  as  to  po 
litical  propensities,  they  seem  in  some  men  to  be  inherent  in 
stincts,  wholly  independent  of  the  reasoning  faculty,  and  no  more 
to  be  resisted  than  a  constitutional  tendency  to  be  fat  or  lean :  A 
sort  of  restless  spirits  these,  prone  to  act,  to  confederate  and  in 
trigue  ;  and  who,  though  not  absolutely  bad  at  heart,  have  yet  a 
lamentable  itch  for  mischief.  If  there  are  such  men,  my  quondam 
friend  was  one  of  them. 

The  old  and  the  austere  may  declaim  as  they  will  against  the 
follies  and  vices  of  youth,  the  natural  propensities  will  still  pre 
vail  ;  and  for  one  student  of  law  that  is  restrained  by  the  solid 
eloquence  of  Professor  Blackstone  from  "  whiling  away  the  awk 
ward  interval  from  childhood  to  twenty-one,"  two  or  three  per 
haps  are  lead  astray  by  the  seducing  rake  of  Doctor  Hoadley. 
Ranger,  returning  to  the  temple  in  a  disordered  dress,  after  a 
night  of  riot  and  debauchery,  has  unfortunately,  more  allurements 
for  a  young  man  of  metal,  and  still  more  unfortunately  for  the 
generality  of  young  ladies,  to  whom  it  is  his  first  desire  to  be 
agreeable,  than  the  sober,  orderly  student,  pale  with  the  incipient 
lucubrations  of  twenty  years.  I  will  not  undertake  to  say,  that 
authors  are  right  in  exhibiting  such  characters  as  a  Dorimant,  a 
Jones,  a  Pickle,  a  Ranger,  or  a  Charles  Surface,  but  in  so  doing 
they  draw  from  nature,  and  address  themselves  to  the  taste  of 
their  readers.  Has  ever  novel  or  comedy  been  popular,  whose 
hero  is  a  man  of  strict  morality  and  virtue  ?  The  Grandison  of 
Richardson,  the  Bevil  of  Steel,  and  Henry  of  Cumberland,  are 
but  insipid  characters  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  are  customers  for 
the  productions  of  the  novelist  and  dramatist.  Happy  indeed, 
are  they,  who,  without  being  lost  to  the  feelings  of  youth,  can  yet 
indulge  them  with  discretion  and  moderation ;  and  who  do  not 
forget,  that  although  the  fashionable  gaieties  may  for  a  time  re 
commend  them  to  the  thoughtless  of  both  sexes,  it  is  application 
to  business  that  must  provide  the  means  of  ease,  contentment  and 
respectability  in  life.  Such  was  not  my  case.  I  wanted  strength 
of  mind  for  the  judgment  of  Hercules,  and  was  for  seizing  the 
present  moment  with  Horace.  I  might  not  live  to  be  old,  and  if 
I  did,  what  were  its  dull  satisfactions  in  comparison  of  the  vivid, 
enthusiastic  enjoyments  of  youth !  In  this  temper,  I  plunged  deep 


DISSIPATION.  93 

into  dissipation,  with  the  exception  of  gaming,  having  never  found 
much  attraction  in  the  fortuitous  evolutions  of  a  shuffled  pack  of 
cards,  or  a  shaken  dice  box.  But  the  pleasures  of  the  table,  the 
independence  of  tavern  revelry,  and  its  high-minded  contempt  of 
the  plodding  and  industrious,  were  irresistibly  fascinating  to  me. 
Though  without  the  slightest  addiction  to  liquor,  nothing  was 
more  delightful  to  me  than  to  find  myself  a  member  of  a  large 
bottle  association  sat  in  for  serious  drinking;  the  table  officers 
appointed,  the  demi-johns  filled,  the  bottles  arranged,  with  the 
other  necessary  dispositions  for  such  engagements ;  and  I  put  no 
inconsiderable  value  upon  myself  for  my  supposed,  "potency  in 
potting,"  or,  in  modem  phrase,  my  being  able  to  carry  off  a  re 
spectable  quantity  of  wine.  Although  a  grievous  headach  was 
the  usual  penalty  of  my  debauch,  the  admonition  vanished  with 
the  indisposition,  while  a  play  or  some  other  frivolous  reading, 
beguiled  the  hours  of  penance.  I  blush  to  think  of  the  many 
excesses  I  was  guilty  of  while  involved  in  this  vortex  of  intemper 
ance.  Wine  rarely  deprived  me  of  my  feet,  but  it  sometimes 
inflamed  me  to  madness ;  and,  in  the  true  spirit  of  chivalry,  the 
more  extravagant  an  enterprise  the  greater  was  the  temptation  to 
achieve  it.  Every  occupation  requires  its  peculiar  talents,  and 
where  mischief  is  the  object,  the  spirit  of  noble  daring  is  certainly 
an  accomplishment.  -Hence,  my  energy  on  these  occasions  was 
duly  appreciated  by  my  companions.  As  to  those  convivial  quali 
fications,  which  are  wont  to  set  the  table  in  a  roar,  I  had  never 
any  pretentious  to  them,  though  few  enjoyed  them  with  more 
relish.  But  these  talents  are  often  fatal  to  the  possessor  and  they 
hastened,  if  they  did  not  induce,  the  catastrophe  of  poor  Kinners- 
ley,  a  son  of  the  already  mentioned  teacher  at  the  academy.  As 
he  was  several  years  older  than  myself,  he  belonged  to  an  elder 
class  in  the  school  of  riot ;  yet  I  have  sometimes  fallen  in  with 
him.  He  had  not  indeed  the  gibes  and  flashes  of  merriment, 
which  are  attributed  to  the  jester  of  Horwendillus's  court;  but  of 
all  men  I  have  seen,  he  had  the  happiest  knack  of  being  gross 
without  being  disgusting,  and  consequently,  of  entertaining  a 
company  sunk  below  the  point  of  attic  refinement.  Modest  by 
nature,  and  unobtrusive,  probably  from  a  conviction  that  he  thereby 
gave  zest  to  his  talents,  he  always  suffered  himself  to  be  called 


94 

upon  for  his  song,  which  he  then  generally  accompanied  with  his 
violin,  to  the  exquisite  delight  of  his  hearers.  He  possessed 
humour  without  grimace  or  buffoonery ;  and  in  the  character  of 
the  drunken  man,  which  he  put  on  in  some  of  his  songs,  and 
which  may  be  endured  as  an  imitation,  he  was  pronounced  by 
Hallam  to  be  unequalled.  But  unfortunately,  the  character  be 
came  at  length  too  much  a  real  one ;  and  it  is  to  be  lamented, 
that  one  whose  exterior  indicated  a  most  ingenious  disposition, 
should  prematurely  close  his  career  by  habitual  intemperance. 

The  study  of  the  law,  as  may  be  supposed,  went  on  heavily 
during  this  round  of  dissipation.  I  occasionally  looked  into 
Blackstone,  but  carefully  kept  aloof  from  the  courts,  where  my 
attendance  as  a  future  candidate  for  the  bar,  was  not  to  be  dis 
pensed  with.  Light  reading  was  the  day's  amusement ;  and,  as 
already  said,  it  chiefly  consisted  of  poetry  and  plays.  The  novels 
of  Fielding  and  Smollet  I  had  read ;  but  as  for  those  of  Richard 
son,  I  had  some  how  taken  up  the  idea,  that  they  were  formal 
stuff,  consisting  chiefly  of  the  dull  ceremonials  relating  to  court 
ship  and  marriage,  with  which,  superannuated  aunts  and  grand 
mothers  torment  the  young  misses  subjected  to  their  control.  But 
taking  up  one  evening  the  last  volume  of  Clarissa,  I  accidentally 
opened  it  at  a  letter  relating  to  the  duel  between  Lovelace  and 
Morden.  This  arrested  my  attention,  and  I  soon  found  that  the 
concerns  of  men,  not  less  than  those  of  the  other  sex,  were  both 
understood  and  spiritedly  represented  by  the  author.  I  immedi 
ately  procured  the  work,  and  read  it  with  more  interest  than  any 
tale  had  ever  excited  in  me  before.  The  cruel,  unmerited  mis 
fortunes  of  Clarissa,  often  steeped  me  in  tears :  yet  the  unrelenting 
villany  of  her  betrayer,  was  so  relieved  by  great  qualities,  so  en 
tirely  was  he  the  gentleman  when  he  chose  to  put  it  on,  that  the 
feeling  of  destestation  was  intermingled  with  admiration  and  re 
spect  ;  and  had  figure,  rank,  fortune,  borne  me  out  in  the  re 
semblance,  his,  of  all  the  characters  I  had  met  with,  would  in  the 
vanity  of  my  heart,  have  most  prompted  me  to  an  imitation  ; 
though  abhorring  as  much  as  any  one  his  vile  plotting  and  obdu 
racy.  Like  the  young  man  mentioned  in  the  letters  of  Lord 
Chesterfield,  I  almost  aspired  to  the  catastrophe,  as  well  as  the 
accomplishments  of  this  libertine  destroyed.  Nor  was  I  singular 


MORAL  EFFECTS  OF  NOVELS.  95 

in  this  ambition :  Lovelace  has  formed  libertines,  as  MacHeath 
has  formed  highwaymen.  A  young  American,  when  at  the 
temple,  between  forty  and  fifty  years  ago,  played  the  part  of  the 
former  with  too  fatal  success,  of  which,  I  have  been  told,  he  pre 
served,  and  sometimes  showed  the  story,  written  by  himself:  and 
that  this  character  was  the  model  which  the  young  Lord  Lyttleton 
prescribed  to  himself,  appears  to  me  evident  from  the  cast  of 
some  of  his  letters.  Howe's  Lothario,  which  Doctor  Johnson 
tells  us  is  the  outline  of  Lovelace,  is  ever  more  favoured  by  an 
audience  than  the  virtuous  and  injured  Altamont  whom,  even  the 
circumspect  Mr.  Cumberland  brands  with  the  epithet  of  wittol: 
And  is  there  a  young  and  giddy  female  heart,  that  does  not  beat 
in  unison  with  Calista's  when  she  exclaims : 

"  I  swear  I  could  not  see  the  dear  betrayer 
Kneel  at  my  feet,  and  sigh  to  be  forgiven, 
But  my  relenting  heart  would  pardon  all, 
And  quite  forget  'twas  he  that  had  undone  me." 

Richardson,  it  is  true,  could  not  have  made  his  story  either 
natural  or  interesting  without  ascribing  great  qualities  to  Lovelace. 
So  refined  and  all  accomplished  a  woman  as  Clarissa,  was  not  to 
be  taken  with  an  ordinary  man ;  yet  what  shall  wre  say  of  the  in 
struction  intended  to  be  conveyed  by  the  exhibition  of  such  a 
character !  Villain  as  he  is,  I  very  much  fear,  that  to  the  youth 
of  both  sexes,  he  is,  upon  the  whole,  more  admired  than  detested. 
The  probability  therefore  is,  that  after  all  our  attempts  at  advice 
and  reformation,  the  world  will  proceed  according  to  its  original 
impulse,  and  that  each  season  of  life  will  retain  the  propensities 
adapted  to  its  destination. 

He  who  presumes  to  face  the  wrorld  in  the  character  of  his  own 
biographer,  ought  to  be  armed  with  resolution  for  the  encounter 
of  great  difficulties.  To  expose  his  follies,  though  but  his  very 
early  ones,  is  far  from  a  pleasant  task ;  and  yet  it  is  in  some  de 
gree,  imposed  upon  him  by  the  obligation  he  is  under  to  repre 
sent  himself  truly.  To  do  it  lightly,  as  I  have  done,  may  argue 
with  some,  too  much  indulgence  for  vice  ;  and  to  treat  the  mat 
ter  as  a  subject  for  deep  humiliation  and  contrition,  would  be  to 
assume  an  austerity,  I  must  confess  I  do  not  harbour.  Still  I  can 


96  JUNIUS. 

say  with  truth,  that  the  delineation  is  painful ;  and  that  I  feel  it  to 
require  an  apology  on  the  score  of  decorum. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  the  letters  of  Junius  appeared,  and 
from  the  English  gazettes  found  their  way  into  ours.  The  cele 
brity  of  these  philippics  excited  general  attention,  and,  of  course, 
mine ;  but  the  mere  fashion  of  admiring  them,  would  never  have 
prevailed  over  my  indifference  to  their  subject  matter,  to  induce 
me  to  read  them,  had  they  not  possessed  a  charm  unusual  in 
such  performances.  I  sought  them  with  avidity,  and  read  them 
with  delight.  Some  diversity  of  opinion  still  exists  with  respect 
to  their  style.  Cumberland  gives  us  to  understand,  that  he  sees 
little  to  admire  in  them ;  Johnson,  however,  seems  to  have  thought 
differently ;  and  their  continued  popularity  must  be  considered  as 
something  more  than  equivocal  evidence  of  their  merit.*  Mr. 
Heron  conceives  their  author,  whoever  he  was,  to  have  formed 
his  style  in  a  great  measure,  on  Chillingworth,  Swift,  Bolingbroke 
and  Shebbeare.  I  am  unacquainted  with  the  writings  of  Chil 
lingworth,  nor  do  I  discern  in  Junius  any  great  likeness  to  Swift ; 
but  there  is  certainly  a  striking  resemblance  in  his  manner  to  The 
dedication  to  a  noble  lord,  prefixed  to  the  remarks  on  the  History 
of  England  by  Bolingbroke,  and  also  to  Angeloni's  Letters  by 
Doctor  Shebbeare,  which,  when  I  read  them  many  years  ago,  ap 
peared  to  me  to  be  written  with  uncommon  spirit,  elegance  and 
force.  But  if  Junius  formed  his  style  upon  these  distinguished 
writers,  he  sometimes  drew  his  observations  from  those  who  are 
nearly  obsolete.  In  his  fifteenth  letter,  which  is  addressed  to  the 
Duke  of  Grafton,  there  is  an  allusion  to  a  sentiment  in  Bacon's 
Mvancement  of  Learning,  of  which  Mr.  Heron  does  not  seem 
to  have  been  aware.  "  Yet,  for  the  benefit  of  the  succeeding  age," 
says  Junius  in  his  concluding  sentence,  "I  could  wish  that  your 
retreat  might  be  deferred  until  your  morals  shall  happily  be  ripened 
to  that  maturity  of  corruption,  at  which  the  worst  examples  cease 
to  be  contagious."  Bacon  has  it,  that  "men  o'erspread  with 
vice,  do  not  so  much  corrupt  public  manners,  as  those  that  are 


*  Their  "merit"  it  wer6  folly  to  deny.  This  is  great,  beyond  dispute ;  but 
certainly  much  of  their  long  continued  popularity  must  be  attributed  to  the  still 
unrevealed  mystery  of  their  authorship. — ED. 


JUNIUS.  97 

half  evil,  and  in  part  only."  Putredo  serpens  magis  contagiosa 
est  quam  matura.  I  think  in  some  of  the  early  editions  of  this  letter, 
the  words  "as  philosophers  tell  us,"  were  inserted  between  the 
words  "which"  and  "the,"  reading  thus — "  at  which,  as  phi 
losophers  tell  us,  the  worst  examples  cease  to  be  contagious." 

Were  it  warrantable  to  infer  an  imitation  from  a  similitude  in  a 
single  point,  Mr.  Heron  might  go  back  to  the  Latin  classics,  and 
add  the  names  of  Horace,  Juvenal  and  Petronius  to  those  of  the 
English  writers,  whom  Junius  is  supposed  to  have  studied  and  to 
have  had  in  his  eye.  That  abrupt  and  indignant  use  of  the  im 
perative  mood,  so  frequent  in  him,  is  also  to  be  met  with  in  each 
of  these  Latin  authors.  "Content  yourself,  my  lord,  with  the 
many  advantages,"  &c. — "Avail  yourself  of  all  the  unforgiving 
piety,"  &c. — "Return,  my  lord,  before  it  be  too  late,"  &c. — 
"Take  back  your  mistress" — "Indulge  the  people.  Attend 
New  Market,"  &c. — "Now  let  him  go  back  to  his  cloister,"  &c. 
Thus  Horace — I  nunc,  argentum  et  marmor  vetus,  &c. — I  nunc  et 
versus  tecum  meditare  canoros ;  and  Juvenal,  speaking  of  Han 
nibal,  I  demenSj  et  savos  curre  per  Alpes  ; — and  in  the  eloquent 
reflections  over  the  body  of  Lycas  in  Petronius,  the  speaker  ex 
claims,  "  Ite  nunc  mortales,  et  magni  cogitationibus  pectora  implete. 
Ite  cautij  et  opes  fraudibus  capias  per  mille  annos,  disponite"  But 
whether  Junius  had  models  or  not,  he  probably  surpassed  all  who 
went  before  him  in  the  graces  of  diction.  He  appears  to  have 
imparted  an  unknown  music  to  English  prose,  and  to  have  given 
it  a  fascination,  in  no  wise  inferior  to  the  language  of  Rousseau. 
The  beginning  of  his  sentences  are  no  less  harmonious  than  his 
cadences  at  their  close  ;  nor,  to  my  ear,  can  any  lines  in  poetry, 
taking  the  preceding  passage  along  with  them,  flow  with  more 
sweetness  and  ease,  than  do  the  following,  in  one  of  the  letters  to 
the  Duke  of  Grafton.  "You  had  already  taken  your  degrees 
with  credit  in  'those  schools,  in  which  the  English  nobility  are 
formed  to  virtue,"  &c.,  as  do  also  the  four  concluding  periods  of 
the  letter  containing  the  remarked  sentiment  from  Lord  Bacon. 
I  am  aware  it  may  be  thought,  that  too  much  stress  is  here  laid 
on  mere  sound ;  but  if  we  analyze  the  sources  from  which  our 
relish  of  good  composition  is  derived,  we  shall  be  compelled  to 
acknowledge  the  great  importance  of  the  ear  in  the  discernment 
9 


98  MR.  DUCHE. 

of  literary  excellence.  Cicero,  as  we  are  told  by  Lord  Kames,  I 
think,  has  even  employed  redundant  words  for  the  improvement 
of  his  harmony;  and  Rousseau  informs  us,  that  he  has  spent 
whole  nights  in  constructing  and  rounding  a  period ;  hence  may 
be  inferred  the  importance  these  great  writers  attached  to  this  part 
of  their  art. 

As  it  was  highly  fashionable  at  this  time  to  speak  of  Junius,  he 
is  descanted  upon  in  the  letters  of  Tamoc  Caspipina,  which  came 
out  in  Philadelphia  in  the  year  1771.  In  these,  he  is  prettily  de 
nominated  The  knight  of  the  polished  armour,  a  fancy,  with  which 
the  writer  seems  not  a  little  pleased,  since  he  has  taken  care  that 
the  idea  shall  not  be  lost  for  want  of  repeating.*  These  letters 
proceeded  from  the  pen  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Duche,  a  very  popular 
preacher  of  the  Episcopal  denomination.  He  had  a  fine  voice 
and  graceful  delivery,  but  was  never  rated  high  in  point  of  ability. 
His  sermons  were  deemed  flowery  and  flimsy,  like  the  letters  of 
Caspipina. 

Mr.  Duche  was  a  whig  before,  and,  I  believe,  after  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence;  but  being  in  Philadelphia  when  the 
British  army  took  possession  of  it,  and  thinking,  probably,  that 
his  country  was  in  a  fair  wray  of  being  subdued,  he  changed  sides, 
and  wrote  a  very  arrogant,  ill-judged  letter  to  General  Washing 
ton,  in  which  he  advises  him  to  renounce  a  cause  which  had  very 
much  degenerated,  and  to  "  negotiate  for  America  at  the  head  of 
his  army."  Mr.  Duche  was  weak  and  vain,  yet  probably  not  a 
bad  man :  His  habits,  at  least,  were  pious ;  and,  with  the  ex 
ception  of  this  political  tergiversation,  his  conduct  exemplary. 
His  whimsical  signature  of  Tamoc  Caspipina,  is  an  acrostic  on 
his  designation,  as,  The  Assistant  Minister  Of  Christ's  Church 
And  St.  Peters,  In  Philadelphia,  In  North  America,  f 

*  "  I  find  C —  grows  more  and  more  dissatisfied  with  JUNIUS.  He  entreated 
Sir  William  Draper,  who  was  at  New  York  in  October  last,  once  more  to  enter 
the  lists  with  this  Knight  of  the  polished  armour.  Sir  William,  however,  very 
politely  replied,  that  he  had  engagements  on  his  hands  at  present  of  a  more 
agreeable  nature.  Your  Lordship  has  doubtless  seen  Lady  Draper  before  this 
time,  so  that  you  may  guess  what  these  engagements  were." — Caspipina^s  Lett, 
to  Rt.  Hon.  Viscount  P.,  4th  July,  1771.— ED. 

t  A  gentleman  well  acquainted  with  Mr.  Duche  in  England,  after  the  trans 
actions  alluded  to,  conceiving  that  his  conduct  was  mistaken  here,  and  particu- 


MR.  DUCHE.  99 

larly  as  to  his  being  a  Whig  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  expressed 
his  wish  that  in  the  event  of  a  second  edition  of  these  Memoirs,  I  would  correct 
and  alter  the  passage.  But  though  willing  to  gratify  this  gentleman,  I  cannot 
do  so  at  the  expense  of  truth ;  and  I  have  no  reason  to  suppose  I  have  mis-stated 
any  fact.  As  to  my  comments,  they  may  not,  perhaps,  be  warranted,  but  that 
must  much  depend  on  the  political  opinions  of  the  time.  Such  a  letter  as  the 
one  alluded  to  might  not,  under  some  circumstances,  have  been  arrogant,  but 
from  my  impression  of  the  character  of  Mr.  Duche,  and  the  part  he  acted,  I  am 
not  induced  to  alter  or  suppress  the  epithet.  Although  pious  and  exemplary  in 
his  deportment,  as  I  have  admitted,  he  was  much  of  a  courtier,  and,  in  my  view? 
a  person  of  so  light  a  character  as  to  be  carried  away  by  the  prevailing  fashion 
of  thinking  among  what  are  called  the  better  sort,  by  whom,  at  this  time,  the 
Whig  cause  was  considered  vulgar  and  rapidly  on  the  decline.  If  the  justness 
of  the  American  claims  warranted  the  blood  which  had  already  been  spilt  for 
them,  the  battles  of  Lexington  and  Bunker's  Hill,  with  the  invasion  of  Canada 
and  assault  on  Quebec,  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  not  a  moral  but 
simply  a  political  question ;  and  whether  the  measure  was  judicious  or  not,  it 
could  not  convert  a  cause,  originally  good,  into  a  seditious  and  criminal  rebellion. 
For  this  reason  it  certainly  savoured  of  arrogance  in  Mr.  Duche,  to  say  the  least 
of  it,  merely  for  this  difference  in  opinion,  to  reproach  his  late  associates  with 
sinister  views,  and  to  advise  GENERAL  WASHINGTON  to  desert  and  betray  them. 

See  Appendix  E,  for  this  celebrated  Letter,  and  others  relating  to  the  subject 
above  referred  to  by  Mr.  Gray  don. — ED. 


100 


AUTHOR  REMOVES  TO  YORK. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Author  removes  to  York.— Society  there.— A  Maryland  Parson.— Odd  cha 
racter.— Judge  Stedman.— Mr.  James  Smith.— Family  circle.— Author  returns 

to  Philadelphia. — Prosecutes  the  study  of  the  Law.— Fencing.— Mr.  Pike. 

City  Tavern. — Singular  case  of  mental  derangement. — Retrospective  reflec 
tions. — Causes  of  the  American  War. — State  of  Parties. — Volunteer  Com 
panies.— Political  consistency.— Preparations  for  War.— Anecdote.  —  Early 
attachment.— Dr.  Kearsley. — Mr.  Hunt.— Major  Skene. 

MY  irregular  course  of  life  had  much  impaired  my  health,  for 
the  re-establishment  of  which,  and  to  enable  me  to  pursue  my 
studies  without  interruption  from  my  free-living  companions,  my 
uncle  advised  my  spending  the  approaching  summer  in  Yorktown. 
Mr.  Samuel  Johnson,  the  Prothonotary  of  that  county,  was  his 
particular  friend,  a  respectable  man  who  had  been  in  the  practice 
of  the  law,  and  had  a  very  good  library.  Having  been  apprised 
of  the  project,  he  kindly  offered  me  the  use  of  his  books,  as  well 
as  his  countenance  and  assistance  in  my  reading.  Accordingly, 
J  submitted  to  become  an  exile  from  Philadelphia,  with  nearly 
the  same  objects  and  feelings  of  Propertius,  when  he  left  Rome 
for  Athens. 

w  Magnum  iter  ad  doctas  proficisci  cogor  Athcnas — 
Romanae  turres,  ct  vos  valeatis  amici 
Qualiscunque  mihi,  tuque  puella  vale." 

Not  that  York*  was  an  Athens ;  but  I  was  sent  thither  for  improve- 

*  York,  the  seat  of  justice  for  York  county,  is  interesting  on  account  of  the 
revolutionary  associations  here  adverted  to.  It  is  situated  on  the  banks  of  Co- 
dorns  creek.  It"  is  a.  rich  and  thriving  borough,  with  a  spirited  and  intelligent 
population  of  over  five  thousand.  Among  the  public  buildings  of  the  place,  the 
new  court-house,  finished  in  1842,  at  a  cost  of  about  $150,000,  will  at  once 
attract  attention.  Congress  retired  to  York  from  Philadelphia,  immediately  after 


YORK.  101 

ment,  and  there  were  various  attractions  in  the  city  from  which 
it  was,  no  doubt,  prudent  to  withdraw  me.  It  was  in  the  spring 
of  1773,  that  I  was  transferred  to  this  pleasant  and  flourishing 
village,  situated  about  twelve  miles  beyond  the  Susquehanna.  It 
was  this  circumstance  which  rendered  it  an  eligible  retreat  for 
Congress  in  the  year  1778,  when  General  Howe  was  in  posses 
sion  of  the  Capitol  and  eastern  parts  of  Pennsylvania.*  I  wras 

the  battle  of  Brandywine,  in  September,  1777,  and  for  nine  months  occupied  the 
old  court-house,  which  stood,  until  1841,  in  the  centre  of  the  public  square.  Its 
population,  at  the  period  of  Mr.  Graydon's  residence,  could  hardly  have  ex 
ceeded  1500.  In  the  year  1800  the  number  of  its  inhabitants  was  2500. — 
Rail  roads  afford  convenient  and  daily  access  to  Philadelphia,  a  distance  of  83 
miles — and  to  Baltimore,  distant  56  miles.  The  society  of  York  is  excellent, 
and  the  citizens  of  the  borough  are  influential  throughout  the  county  and  state. — • 
ED. 

*  Or  rather  when  the  Capitol  held  possession  of  Sir  William  Howe.  We  learn 
from  the  "  Memoirs  "  of  LEE,  that,  "  while  Washington  was  engaged,  without 
cessation,  in  perfecting  his  army  in  the  art  of  war,  and  in  placing  it  out  of  the 
reach  of  that  contagious  malady  so  fatal  to  man,  Sir  William  was  indulging* 
with  his  brave  troops,  in  all  the  sweets  of  luxury  and  pleasure  to  be  drawn  from 
the  wealthy  and  populous  city  of  Philadelphia ;  nor  did  he  once  attempt  to  dis 
turb  that  repose,  now  so  essential  to  the  American  general.  Thus  passed  the 
winter ;  and  the  approaching  spring  brought  with  it  the  recall  of  the  commander 
of  the  British  army;  who  was  succeeded  by  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  heretofore  his 
second." 

WRAXALL,  indeed,  says  that  the  "Howes  appear  to  have  been  either  lukewarm, 
or  remiss,  or  negligent^  or  incapable.  Lord  North's  selection  of  those  two  com 
manders  excited,  at  the  time,  just  condemnation  ;  however  brave,  able,  or  meri 
torious,  they  might  individually  be  esteemed  as  professional  men.  Their  ardour 
in  the  cause  itself  was  doubted;  and  still  more  questionable  was  their  attachment 
to  the  administration.  Never,  perhaps,  in  the  history  of  modern  war,  has  an 
army,  or  a  fleet,  been  more  profusely  supplied  with  every  requisite  for  brilliant 
and  efficient  service,  than  were  the  troops  and  ships  sent  out  by  Lord  North's 
Cabinet  in  1776,  across  the  Atlantic.  But,  the  efforts  abroad,  did  not  correspond 
with  the  exertions  made  at  home.  The  energy  and  activity  of  a  Wellington, 
never  animated  that  torpid  mass.  Neither  vigilance,  enterprise,  nor  co-operation 
characterized  the  campaigns  of  1776  and  1777.  Dissipation,  play,  and  relaxation 
of  discipline,  found  their  way  into  the  British  camp." 

LEE,  with  a  just  and  generous  regard  for  the  reputation,  even  of  an  enemy, 
says,  in  his  Memoirs,  in  reference  to  the  earlier  movements  of  Sir  William  in 
America,  "  it  would  be  absurd  to  impute  to  him  a  want  of  courage,  for  he  emi 
nently  possessed  that  quality.  To  explain,  as  some  have  attempted  to  do,  his 
apparent  supincness,  by  supposing  him  friendly  to  the  Revolution,  and,  therefore, 
disposed  to  connive  at  its  success,  would  be  equally  stupid  and  unjust,  for  no  part 

9* 


102  YORK SOCIETY  THERE. 

well  received  by  Mr.  Johnson,  but  with  that  formal,  theoretical 
kind  of  politeness,  which  distinguishes  the  manners  of  those  who 
constitute  the  better  sorty  in  small  secluded  towns  :  and  if,  in  these 
days,  the  Prothonotary  of  a  county  of  German  population,  was 
not  confessedly  the  most  considerable  personage  in  it,  he  must 
have  been  egregiously  wanting  to  himself.  This  could  with  no 
propriety  be  imputed  to  my  patron.  Although  apparently  a  mild 
and  modest  man,  he  evidently  knew  his  consequence,  and  never 
lost  sight  of  it,  though  to  say  the  truth,  I  received  fuh1  as  much 
of  his  attention  as  either  I  desired  or  had  a  right  to  expect :  He 
repeated  the  tender  of  his  books  and  services,  complimented  me 
with  a  dinner,  suggested  that  business  and  pleasure  could  not  be 
well  prosecuted  together,  and  consigned  me  to  my  meditations. 

I  established  myself  at  a  boarding-house,  at  whose  table  I  found 
a  practising  attorney,  a  student  of  law,  another  of  physic,  and  a 
young  Episcopal  clergyman,  who  had  lately  arrived  from  Dublin. 
The  first  was  a  striking  instance  of  what  mere  determination  and 
perseverance  will  do,  even  in  a  learned  profession.  He  was  an 
Irishman,  a  man  of  middle  age — the  extent  of  whose  attainments 
was  certainly  nothing  more,  than  in  a  coarse,  vulgar  hand,  to 
draw  a  declaration ;  and  in  equally  vulgar  arithmetic,  to  sum  up 
the  interest  due  upon  a  bond.  His  figure  was  as  awkward  as 
can  well  be  imagined,  and  his  elocution  exactly  corresponded 
with  it.  From  the  humble  post  of  under- sheriff,  he  had  lately 
emerged  to  his  present  station  at  the  bar,  and  was  already  in  good 
practice.  By  industry  and  economy,  his  acquisitions  soon  ex 
ceeded  his  expenses ;  and  he  died  not  long  since,  in  pretty  afflu 
ent  circumstances.  Justice,  however,  requires  it  should  be  added, 
that  his  want  of  brilliant  qualities,  was  compensated  by  an  ade 
quate  portion  of  common  sense,  by  unblemished  integrity,  and 
liberality  in  his  dealings  with  the  poor.  Nor  should  it  be  forgot 
ten,  that  after  having  taken  part  with  his  adopted  country  in  the 
struggle  for  her  rights,  he  did  not,  like  too  many  of  his  country 
men,,  by  a  bjind  obedience  to  vindictive  passions,  much  more  than 

of  Sir  William's  life  is  stained  with  a  single  departure  from  the  line  of  honour." 
It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that  at  this  time  Sir  William  had  not  become 
acquainted  with  the  allurements  of  Philadelphia  society,  where,  "  snug  as  a  flea," 
as  facetiously  sung  by  the  poet,  he  revelled  long  and  luxuriously. — Ep. 


A  MARYLAND  PARSON.  103 

efface  the  merit  of  his  services. — The  law-student  was  from 
Wilmington ;  an  easy,  good-natured  young  man,  whose  talents 
appeared  to  be  misplaced  in  their  present  direction.  They  were, 
probably,  better  adapted  to  the  army,  into  which  he  entered  on 
the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  and  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Bran- 
dywine,  holding  the  rank  of  a  Major  in  the  Pennsylvania  line. — 
The  student  of  physic,  though  writh  some  rusticity  to  rub  off,  was 
yet  a  pretty  good  scholar;  nor  was  he  deficient  in  natural  endow 
ments.  To  these,  he  added  a  manly  and  honourable  way  of 
thinking,  which  made  him  respectable  in  the  army,  (which  he 
also  afterwards  joined,)  as  well  as  in  the  path  of  civil  life,  in 
which  he  possesses  an  honourable  station  in  the  western  country. 
The  clergyman  was  only  an  occasional  lodger,  his  pastoral 
duties  often  calling  him  to  Maryland  and  elsewrhere,  which  pro 
duced  absences  of  several  weeks  at  a  time.  He  had  probably 
the  propensities  of  that  species  of  gownman,  which  I  have  heard 
Whitfield  call  a  downy  doctor ;  as,  whatever  might  have  been 
his  deportment  on  solemn  occasions,  in  his  intercourse  with  me, 
he  did  not  seem  to  be  one  who  considered  the  enjoyment  of  the 
present  sublunary  scene,  by  any  means  unworthy  of  regard.  One 
day,  as  I  was  strumming  a  tune  from  the  Beggar's  opera,  upon  a 
fiddle  I  had  purchased,  with  a  view  of  becoming  a  performer  upon 
it,  he  entered  my  apartment.  "  What,"  says  he,  "  you  play  upon 
the  violin,  and  are  at  the  airs  of  the  Beggar's  opera!"  He  imme 
diately  began  to  hum  the  tune  I  had  before  me,  from  which,  turn 
ing  over  the  leaves  of  the  note-book,  he  passed  on  to  others, 
which  he  sung  as  he  went  along,  and  evinced  an  acquaintance 
with  the  piece,  much  too  intimate  to  have  been  acquired,  by  any 
thing  short  of  an  assiduous  attendance  on  the  theatre.  After 
amusing  himself  and  me  for  some  time  with  his  theatrical  recol 
lections,  "  I  am,"  said  he,  "  to  give  you  a  sermon  next  Sunday,  and 
here  it  is,"  pulling  from  his  pocket  a  manuscript.  Perusing  the 
title  page,  he  read,  it  was  preached  at  such  a  time  in  such  a  place, 
and  at  another  time  in  such  a  place,  giving  me  to  understand  from 
the  dates,  that  it  was  not  of  his  own  composition,  and  that  he 
made  no  difficulty  of  appropriating  the  productions  of  others.  In 

a  word,  Mr.  L seemed  in  all  respects  to  be  what  was  then 

called  in  Pennsylvania  a  Maryland  Parson;    that  is,    one  who 


104  MR.  JAMES  SMITH. 

could  accommodate  himself  to  his  company,  and  pass,  from 
grave  to  gay,  from  lively  to  severe,"  as  occasion  might  require. 
Among  his  other  accomplishments,  he  was  no  incompetent  jockey ; 
at  least  I  have  a  right  to  infer  so,  from  the  results  of  an  exchange 
of  horses  between  us,  a  short  time  before  my  return  to  the  city : 
I  do  not,  however,  insinuate  that  he  took  me  in,  but  merely  that 
he  had  the  best  of  the  bargain. 

Besides  my  fellow  boarders  there  were  several  young  men  in 
the  town,  whose  company  served  to  relieve  the  dreariness  of  my 
solitude  ;  for  such  it  was,  compared  with  the  scene  from  which  I 
had  removed.  These,  for  the  most  part  are  yet  living,  generally 
known  and  respected.  There  was  also  in  the  place  an  oddity, 
who,  though  not  to  be  classed  with  its  young  men,  I  sometimes  fell 
in  with.  This  was  Mr.  James  Smith,*  the  lawyer,  then  in  con 
siderable  practice.  He  was  probably  between  forty  and  fifty 
years  of  age,  fond  of  his  bottle  and  young  company,  and  pos 
sessed  of  an  original  species  of  drollery.  This,  as  may  perhaps 
be  said  of  all  persons  in  this  way,  consisted  more  in  the  manner 
than  the  matter ;  for  which  reason,  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  con 
vey  a  just  notion  of  it  to  the  reader.  In  him  it  much  depended 
on  an  uncouthness  of  gesture,  a  certain  ludicrous  cast  of  counte 
nance,  and  a  drawling  mode  of  utterance,  which  taken  in  con 
junction  with  his  eccentric  ideas,  produced  an  effect  irresistibly 
comical ;  though  on  an  analysis  it  would  be  difficult  to  decide, 
whether  the  man  or  the  saying  most  constituted  the  jest.  The 
most  trivial  incident  from  his  mouth  was  stamped  with  his  origi 
nality,  and  in  relating  one  evening  how  he  had  been  disturbed  in 
his  office  by  a  cow,  he  gave  inconceivable  zest  to  his  narration, 

*  Mr.  Smith,  was  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  He  was  a 
native  of  Ireland,  whence  his  father  emigrated,  it  is  supposed,  between  1715  and 
1720.  James  Smith  received  his  education  at  the  College  of  Philadelphia.  After 
his  admission  to  the  bar,  he  removed  to  the  vicinity  of  Shippcnsburgh,  and  there 
established  himself  as  a  lawyer  and  surveyor,  but  soon  after  removed  to  York, 
where  he  continued  to  reside,  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  held  high 
rank  at  the  bar  and,  was  greatly  distinguished  for  his  wit  and  good  humour. 
He  was  a  member  of  several  important  conventions.  In  1775,  he  was  elected  to 
Congress,  and  retained  his  seat  in  that  body,  until  November,  1778,  when  he 
resumed  his  professional  business,  from  which  he  withdrew  in  1800.  He  died 
in  1806.— Eo. 


JUDGE  STEDMAN ANECDOTE.  105 

by  his  manner  of  telling  how  she  thrust  her  nose  into  the  door, 
and  there  roared  like  a  JVumidian  lion.  Like  the  picture  of  Gar- 
rick  between  tragedy  and  comedy,  his  phiz  exhibited  a  struggle 
between  tragedy  and  farce,  in  which  the  latter  seemed  on  the  eve 
of  predominating.  With  a  sufficiency  of  various  reading  to  fur 
nish  him  with  materials  for  ridiculous  allusions  and  incongruous 
combinations,  he  was  never  so  successful  as  when  he  could  find 
a  learned  pedant  to  play  upon :  and  of  all  men,  Judge  Stedman, 
when  mellow,  was  best  calculated  for  his  butt.  The  judge  was 
a  Scotchman,  a  man  of  reading  and  erudition,  though  extremely 
magisterial  and  dogmatical  in  his  cups.  This  it  was  which  gave 
point  to  the  humour  of  Smith,  who,  as  if  desirous  of  coming  in 
for  his  share  of  the  glory,  while  Stedman  was  in  full  display  of 
his  historical  knowledge,  never  failed  to  set  him  raving  by  some 
monstrous  anachronism,  such  for  instance,  as  "  don't  you  remem 
ber,  Mr.  Stedman,  that  terrible  bloody  battle  which  Alexander 
the  Great  fought  with  the  Russians  near  the  Straits  of  Babelman- 
del?"  "What,  sir!"  said  Stedman,  repeating  with  the  most 
ineffable  contempt,  "  which  Alexander  the  Great  fought  with  the 
Russians!  Where,  mon,  did  you  get  your  chronology?"  "I 
think  you  will  find  it  recorded,  Mr.  Stedman,  in  Thucidydes 
or  Herodotus."  On  another  occasion,  being  asked  for  his  au 
thority  for  some  enormous  assertion,  in  which  both  space  and 
time  were  fairly  annihilated,  with  unshaken  gravity  he  replied, 
"I  am  pretty  sure  I  have  seen  an  account  of  it,  Mr.  Stedman, 
in  a  High  Dutch  almanac  printed  at  Jlleepo"  his  drawling  way 
of  pronouncing  Aleppo.  While  every  one  at  table  was  holding 
his  sides  at  the  expense  of  the  judge,  he,  on  his  part,  had  no 
doubt  that  Smith  was  the  object  of  laughter,  as  he  was  of  his  own 
unutterable  disdain.  Thus  every  thing  was  as  it  should  be,  all 
parties  were  pleased ;  the  laughers  were  highly  tickled,  the  self- 
complacency  of  the  real  dupe  was  flattered,  and  the  sarcastic  vein 
of  the  pretended  one  gratified;  and  this,  without  the  smallest 
suspicion  on  the  part  of  Stedman,  who,  residing  in  Philadelphia, 
was  ignorant  of  Smith's  character,  and  destitute  of  penetration  to 
develope  it. 

York,  I  must  say,  was  somewhat  obnoxious  to  the  general 
charge  of  unsociableness,  under  which  Pennsylvania  had  always 


106  FAMILY  CIRCLE. 

laboured :  or  if  I  wrong  her,  I  was  not  the  kind  of  guest  that  was 
calculated  to  profit  of  her  hospitality.  Perhaps  I  approached  her 
under  unfavourable  auspices,  those  of  a  young  man  debauched 
by  evil  communications ;  or  perhaps  there  was  a  want  of  conge 
niality  between  her  manners  and  mine.  Be  it  as  it  may,  there 
was  but  a  single  house  in  which  I  found  that  sort  of  reception 
which  invited  me  to  repeat  my  visit ;  and  this  was  the  house  of  a 
Jew.  In  this,  I  could  conceive  myself  at  home,  being  always 
received  with  ease,  with  cheerfulness  and  cordiality.  Those  who 
have  known  York,  at  the  period  I  am  speaking  of,  cannot  fail  to 
recollect  the  sprightly  and  engaging  Mrs.  E.,  the  life  of  all  the 
gaiety  that  could  be  mustered  in  the  village :  always  in  spirits, 
full  of  frolic  and  glee,  and  possessing  the  talent  of  singing  agree 
ably,  she  was  an  indispensable  ingredient  in  the  little  parties  of 
pleasure  which  sometimes  took  place,  and  usually  consisted  in 
excursions  to  the  Susquehanna,  where  the  company  dined,  and, 
when  successful  in  angling,  upon  fish  of  their  own  catching.  It 
was  upon  one  of  these  occasions,  the  summer  before  I  saw  her, 
that  she  had  attracted  the  notice  of  Mr.  John  Dickinson,  the  cele 
brated  author  of  the  Farmers  Letters.  He  had  been  lavish  in 
her  praise  in  the  company  of  a  lady  of  my  acquaintance,  who 
told  me  of  it,  and  thence  inferred,  how  much  I  should  be  pleased 
with  her  when  I  got  to  York.  I  paid  little  attention  to  the  in 
formation,  having  no  conception  that  I  could  take  any  interest  in 
the  company  of  a  married  woman,  considerably  older  than  myself 
and  the  mother  of  several  children.  The  sequel  proved  how 
much  I  was  mistaken,  and  how  essential  to  my  satisfaction  was 
female  society ;  the  access  to  a  house  in  which  I  could  domesti 
cate  myself,  and  receive  attentions,  not  the  less  grateful  from  ap 
parently  being  blended  with  somewhat  maternal.  The  master  of 
the  house,  though  much  less  brilliant  than  the  mistress,  was  always 
good-humoured  and  kind ;  and  as  they  kept  a  small  store,  I  re 
paid  as  well  as  I  could  the  hospitality  of  a  frequent  dish  of  tea, 
by  purchasing  there  what  articles  I  wanted. 

After  whiling  away  about  six  months,  the  allotted  time  of  my 
exile,  reading  a  little  law  in  the  morning,  and  either  fowling, 
riding  or  strolling  along  the  banks  of  the  Codorus,  a  beautiful 
stream  which  passes  through  the  town,  in  the  afternoon,  I  at 


AUTHOR  RETURNS  TO  PHILADELPHIA.  107 

length  set  out  on  my  return  to  Philadelphia.  For  the  sake  of 
company  and  yet  more  for  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  country, 
I  took  a  circuitous  route,  crossing  the  Susquehanna  at  M<  Call's 
ferry,  at  the  Narrows.  This  place  is  rude  and  romantic  to  a 

great  degree.  The  water  is  extremely  deep,  above 

fathoms,*  as  it  is  stated  in  Scull's  map,  and  the  current  much 
obstructed  by  rocks,  which  rise  above  the  surface  in  huge  and 
shapeless  craggs.  Leaving  the  river,  we  crossed  the  Octararo, 
which  .discharges  itself  into  it ;  and  thence,  shaping  our  course 
through  a  pleasant  country  to  Newark  and  Wilmington,  we 
reached  Philadelphia  after  a  journey  of  three  or  four  days,  in  the 
latter  part  of  October. 

I  cannot  take  my  final  leave  of  York  before  mentioning,  that  I 
visited  it  again  when  Congress  held  their  session  there,  in  the 
year  1778.  Mr.  Johnson,  who  had  been  a  widower,  was  then 
married  to  a  lady  from  Maryland.  The  laws  having  been  silenced 
by  arms,  he  was  no  longer  Prothonotary ;  and  what  was  still 
more  unfortunate  for  him,  he  had  no  chance  of  ever  becoming  so 
again,  being  much  disaffected  to  the  American  cause.  I  found 
him  extremely  soured  by  the  state  of  affairs :  He  was  at  no  pains 
to  conceal  his  disgust  at  it,  and  shook  his  head  in  fearful  antici 
pation  of  future  calamities.  Five  years  had  produced  a  consider 
able  change  in  respect  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  town.  The 
young  men  I  had  been  acquainted  with  had  been  gene  "ally  in 

the  army,  and  were  consequently  dispersed.  The  E 's  were 

not  there ;  or  at  least,  I  did  not  see  'them ;  and  if  my  memory 
does  not  mislead  me,  the  family  had  removed  to  Baltimore. 

Although  I  had  not  made  myself  a  lawyer,  1  returned  to  the 
city  somewhat  improved  in  health,  as  well  as  in  my  habits  of 
living.  My  disposition,  however,  was  unaltered.  I  still  affected 
the  man  of  pleasure  and  dissipation ;  had  a  sovereign  contempt 
for  matrimony,  and  was  even  puppy  enough,  with  shame  I  yet 
think  of  it,  to  ape  the  style  of  Lovelace,  in  some  of  my  epistolary 

*  From  the  account  of  Theodore  Burr,  who  threw  the  immense  arch  of  360 
feet,  4  inches,  over  the  river  at  this  place,  in  the  winter  of  1814-15,  the  depth  of 
the  water  is  150  feet. 

This  noble  bridge  was,  in  part,  carried  away  by  the  flood  of  March,  1846 — 
the  greatest  known  within  fifty  years.— ED. 


108  PROSECUTES  THE  STUDY  OF  THE  LAW. 

correspondencies.     As  my  uncle  was  still  bent  on  qualifying  me 
for  the  practice  of  my  profession,  he  proposed  my  pursuing  my 
studies,  for  the  winter,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  James  Allen. 
As  this  gentleman  was  without  a  clerk,  my  being  there  was  con 
sidered  as  a  matter  of  mutual  convenience.     In  return  for  the  use 
of  his  books,  I  did  the  business  of  his  office,  which  was  not  very 
burdensome,  and  left  me  sufficient  time  for  reading.      Mr.  Allen, 
the  second  son  of  old  Mr.  William  Allen,*  the  chief  justice,  and 
perhaps  the  richest  and  most  influential  person  in  the  province, 
was  a  man  of  wit  and  pleasantry,  who,  for  the  gratification  of  his 
ambition,  was  determined  also  to  be  a  man  of  business,  the  only 
road  in  Pennsylvania,  to  honours  and  distinction.     For  this  pur 
pose,  he  engaged  in  the  practice  of  the  law,  in  which,  at  this 
time,  he  was  very  assiduous  and  attentive.     As  he  was  very 
gentlemanly  in  his  manners,  good-humoured  and  affable,  I  passed 
my  time  with  him  altogether  to  my  mind.     His  good  sense  and 
good  breeding,  suggested  the  true  line  of  behaviour  to  one  be 
yond  the  age  of  apprenticeship,  and  who,  though  doing  the  busi 
ness  of  a  clerk,  did  not  perform  it  for  hire.     He  also  took  a 
friendly  interest   in   my  improvement,   submitting  the  cases   in 
which  he  was  consulted  to  my  previous  examination  and  opinion, 
and  treating  the  timidity  which  many  feel  on  first  speaking  in 
public,  as  a  weakness  very  easily  overcome.      In  relation  to  the 

*  The  same  gentleman  alluded  to  by  Howe  in  his  " Narrative"  quoted  by 
Sparks,  in  the  Appendix,  to  the  4th  vol.  of  the  writings  of  Washington,  as 
MR.  WILLIAM  ALLEN,  a  gentleman  who  was  supposed  to  have  great  family  in 
fluence  in  the  province  of  Pennsylvania;  Mr.  Chalmers,  much  respected  in  the 
three  lower  counties  on  the  Delaware  and  in  Maryland ;  and  Mr.  Clifton,  the 
Chief  of  the  Roman  Catholic  persuasion,  of  whom  there  was  said  to  be  many  in 
Philadelphia,  as  well  as  in  the  rebel  army,  serving  against  their  inclinations: 
these  gentlemen  were  appointed  commandants  of  corps,  to  receive  and  form  for 
service  all  the  well- affected  that  could  be  obtained,  (meaning  loyalists,  of  course,) 
and  what  was  the  success  of  these  efforts?" — To  the  honour  of  the  American 
name,  and  with  native  pride— I  answer  in  Howe's  own  language,—"  In  May, 
1778,  when  I  left  America,  Colonel  Allen  had  raised  only  152  rank  and  file; 
Colonel  Chalmers,  336,  (a  goodly  proportion,  however,  for  the  three  patriotic  coun 
ties  on  the  Delaware !)  and  Colonel  Clifton,  180;  which,  together  with  three 
troops  of  Light  Dragoons,  consisting  of  132  troopers,  and  174  real  volunteers  from 
Jersey,  under  Colonel  Vandyke,  amounting  in  the  whole  to  974  men,  constituted 
all  the  force  that  could  be  collected  in  Pennsylvania,  after  the  most  indefatigable 
exertions  during  eight  months." — ED. 


DR.  SKINNER.  109 

subject,  he  gave  me,  I  remember,  a  very  laughable  account  of 
his  own  coup  d'essai  in  conjunction  with  the  facetious  Harry 
Elwes,  at  Easton. 

To  have  been  regular  in  the  history  of  my  education  I  should 
have  mentioned,  that  I  had  already  acquired  sufficient  knowledge 
of  French  to  be  able  to  read  it  with  tolerable  facility.  I  now 
undertook  to  learn  the  use  of  the  small  sword  of  a  Mr.  Pike,  who 
had  lately  arrived  in  Philadelphia,  and  was  much  celebrated  for 
his  ability  both  as  a  dancing  and  fencing  master.  Amusement 
and  exercise  were  my  inducements  to  the  undertaking,  little 
thinking  that  I  was  acquiring  professional  skill,  and  that  a  sword, 
in  a  year  or  two,  would  be  a  badge  of  my  calling.  From  what  I 
have  since  seen,  I  do  not  think  that  Mr.  Pike,  although,  like 
Rousseau's  master,  sufficiently^?*  de  Part  de  tuer  un  homme,  was 
an  accomplished  swordsman.  He  nevertheless  probably  taught 
the  science  very  well,  and  had  certainly  a  knack  of  close  pushing, 
which  I  have  never  met  with  in  any  other ;  that  is,  in  the  exercise 
of  quarte  and  tierce,  by  placing  the  point  of  his  foil  near  the  guard 
of  his  adversary's,  he  could  disengage  and  thrust  with  such  quick 
ness,  as  with  certainty  to  hit  the  arm  of  the  assailed.  I  laboured 
in  vain,  for  six  or  eight  months  to  acquire  this  dexterity:  from 
continued  practice,  however,  the  slight  of  hand  came  at  last, 
upon  which  I  valued  myself  not  a  little,  and  was  equally  valued 
by  others.  There  was  but  one  other  pupil  in  the  school  who  had 
been  equally  successful,  and  this  was  my  particular  friend  the 
reverend  Mr.  Clay,  of  New- Castle,  who  was  then  a  merchant, 
and  who,  in  respect  of  his  present  clerical  function,  might  say, 
TiOTi  kos  qucesitum  munus  in  usus.  This  accomplishment  had 
nearly  brought  me,  wrhen  in  the  army,  into  perilous  contact  with 
a  Doctor  Skinner,*  who  had  the  fame  of  a  duellist,  and  having 

*  ALEXANDER  SKINXER. — He  is  depicted  at  large,  by  General  Henry  Lee,  in 
his  "Memoirs  of  the  War  in  the  Southern  Department  of  the  United  States." 
"He  was  a  native  of  Maryland.  He  was  virtuous  and  sensible  ;  full  of  original 
humour  of  a  peculiar  cast;  and  eccentric  in  mind  and  manners.  In  person  and 
in  love  of  good  cheer,  as  well  as  in  dire  objection  to  the  field  of  battle,  he  resem 
bled,  with  wonderful  similitude,  Shakspeare's  Falstaff.  Yet  Skinner  had  no 
hesitation  in  fighting  duels,  and  had  killed  his  man.  When  urged  by  his  friends 
to  explain  why  he,  who  would,  when  called  upon  by  feelings  of  honour  to  risk 
his  life  in  single  combat,  advance  to  the  arena  with  alacrity^  should  abhor  so 

10 


110  DR.   SKINNER. 

already  killed  his  man.  A  Mr.  Hanson  of  Maryland,  who  had 
been  a  scholar  of  Pike,  and  knew  what  I  could  do,  had  made  a 
considerable  bet  with  the  doctor,  that  he  would  find  a  person  in 
the  army,  who  in  spite  of  him,  would  hit  him  in  thrusting  tierce,  or 
rather  quarte  over  the  arm.  He  called  upon  me,  when  the  army 

dreadfully,  the  field  of  battle, — he  uniformly,  in  substance,  answered,  that  he 
considered  it  very  arrogant  in  a  surgeon  (whose  province  it  was  to  take  care  of 
the  sick  and  wounded)  to  be  aping  the  demeanour  and  duty  of  a  commissioned 
officer,  whose  business  it  was  to  fight:  an  arrogance  which  he  cordially  con- 
temned,  and  of  which  he  should  never  be  guilty.  Moreover, — he  would  add, — 
he  was  not  more  disposed  to  die  than  other  gentlemen;  but  that  he  had  an  utter 
aversion  to  the  noise  and  turmoil  of  battle.  It  stunned  and  stupified  him.  How 
ever,  when  Congress  should  think  proper  to  honour  him  with  a  commission,  he 
would  convince  all  doubters  that  he  was  not  afraid  to  push  the  bayonet."  General 
Lee,  in  describing  an  action  near  a  stream  over  which  his  dragoons  could  not 
pass — being  too  wide  for  their  horses  to  leap,  and  too  deep  in  mud  for  them  to 
attempt  to  ford — it  was  impossible  to  pursue  the  advantage  his  troops  had  gal 
lantly  gained,  and  "  having  only  sabres  to  oppose  to  the  enemy's  fire,  and  those 
sabres  withheld  from  contact  by  the  interposing  chasm,  he  was  forced  to  draw 
off  from  the  vain  contest,  after  several  of  his  dragoons  had  been  wounded, 
among  whom  was  Dr.  Irvin,  surgeon  of  the  legion  cavalry,"  states,  that  such 
was  Dr.  Skinner's  unvarying  objection  to  Irvin's  custom  of  risking  his  life, 
whenever  he  was  with  the  corps  going  into  action,  that,  kind  and  amiable 
as  he  was,  he  saw  with  pleasure,  that  his  prediction,  often  communicated  to 
Irvin  to  stop  his  practice,  (which,  contrasted  with  his  own,  Skinner  felt  as  a  bitter 
reproach)  was  at  length  realized,  when  Irvin  was  brought  in  wounded  ;  and  he 
would  not  dress  his  wound,  although  from  his  station  he  had  a  right  of  preference, 
until  he  had  attended  upon  all  the  privates — reprehending  with  asperity  Irvin's 
custom,  and  sarcastically  complimenting  him,  occasionally,  with  the  honourable 
scar  he  might  hereafter  show. 

Surely  he  was  the  Dr.  Sitgreaves  of  Cooper  ! 

When  he  first  appeared  in  the  lower  country,  he  wore  a  long  beard  and  huge 
fur  cap,  the  latter  through  necessity,  the  first  through  some  superstitious  notion, 
the  meaning  of  which  it  was  impossible  to  penetrate.  An  officer  who  really 
esteemed  him,  asking  him  "  why  he  suffered  his  beard  to  grow  to  such  an  unusual 
length,"  he  tartly  replied,  "  It  is  a  secret,  sir,  betwixt  my  God  and  myself,  that 
human  impertinence  shall  never  penetrate."  On  a  night  alarm  at  Ninety-Six,  as 
Colonel  Lee  was  hastening  forward  to  ascertain  the  cause,  he  met  Skinner  in 
full  retreat,  and  stopping  him,  said,  "  what  is  the  matter  Doctor,  whither  so  fast 
— not  frightened  I  hope  ?"  "  No,  Colonel,  no,"  replied  Skinner,  "  not  absolutely 
frightened,  but,  I  candidly  confess,  most  damnably  alarmed." 

Being  once  asked  which  of  the  ladies  of  South  Carolina  possessed  in  his  esti 
mation,  the  greatest  attractions?  he  replied,  "The  widow  Izard  beyond  all  com 
parison.  I  never  pass  her  magnificent  sideboard,  but  the  plate  seems  ready  to 
tumble  into  my  pocket." — ED. 


MR.  BRADFORD MR.  ROBINSON.  Ill 

lay  at  Haerlem  heights,  to  know  if  I  would  push :  With  some 
reluctance  I  consented,  but  before  the  time  appointed  arrived, 
some  movement  took  place,  which  separated  me  from  Mr.  Skin 
ner,  and  the  question  was  not  decided.  The  instruction  I  re 
ceived  from  Pike,  I  considerably  improved  by  practice,  and  began 
to  grow  vain  of  my  skill,  until  I  met  with  Major  Clow  (or  Clough) 
of  Colonel  Baylor's  dragoons,  who  had  been  a  pupil  of  Angelo 
and  others  of  the  best  masters  in  Europe.  He  soon  convinced 
me  that  I  had  still  much  room  for  improvement ;  though  he  \vas 
pleased  to  assure  me,  that  I  was  by  far  the  best  fencer  he  had  met 
with  in  America,  and  much  superior  to  Benson,  a  fencing  master 
in  New  York. 

During  the  time  of  my  being  with  Pike,  Mentges,  who  was 
afterwards  a  Colonel  in  our  service,  had  opened  a  fencing  school. 
Among  his  scholars  were  Messrs.  Robeson*  and  Bradford;!  then 

*  Perhaps  the  son  of  him — mentioned  as  Robinson,  by  Watson,  whose  ortho 
graphy  in  names,  like  the  style  of  his  inimitable  "Annals  "  is  sui  generis  ! 

The  gentleman,  referred  to  by  Watson,  "  was  Clerk  of  the  Provincial  Council, 
and  owner  of  the  first  hired  prison.  In  1685  he  gave  offence  to  the  council,  and 
they  resolved  'that  the  words  spoken  by  him,  concerning  the  impeachment  against 
Judge  Moore,  was  drawn  kab  nab,  which  expression  of  his  we  do  unanimously 
declare  to  be  undecent,  unallowable,  and  to  be  disowned.'  "  Soon  after;  it  was 
farther  resolved,  that  Patrick  Robinson  could  not  be  removed  from  his  Clerk's 
office  until  he  was  legally  convicted  of  the  offence.  They,  however,  determine 
'that  he  shall  be  readily  dismissed  from  any  public  office  of  trust  in  this  govern 
ment." — ED. 

t  Bradford  commenced  his  professional  career  at  a  very  early  age,  and  his 
instructive  history  is  deserving  of  the  attention  of  those,  especially,  upon  whom 
adverse  fortune  has  laid  her  depressing  hand.  His  circumstances  were  exceed, 
ingly  restricted,  and  he  was  several  years  at  the  Bar  with  few  or  no  clients ;  and 
so  discouraging  appeared  his  prospects,  that  at  one  time  he  seriously  contem 
plated  the  abandonment  of  his  professional  hopes,  and  the  adoption  of  the  sea  as 
his  new  and  perilous  home. 

Mr.  Bradford  was  buried  in  the  grave-yard  of  St.  Mary's,  in  the  ancient,  rural 
city  of  Burlington,  New-Jersey  ;  and  his  monument  bears  the  following  beautiful 
and  comprehensive  inscription,  which  supersedes  the  necessity  of  farther  biogra 
phical  details : 

"Here  lies  the  remains  of  WILLIAM  BRADFORD,  Attorney. General  of  the  United 
States,  under  the  Presidency  of  WASHINGTON  ;  and  previously  Attorney-General 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  that  State.  In  private 
life  he  had  acquired  the  esteem  of  all  his  fellow-citizens.  In  professional  attain 
ments  he  was  learned  as  a  lawyer,  and  eloquent  as  an  advocate.  In  the  execu- 


112  COL.  MENZIES. 

students  of  law,  the  former  already  spoken  of,  and  the  latter  of 
whom  became  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  and 
afterwards  Attorney- General  of  the  United  States.  Coming  into 
the  school  I  was  asked  to  take  a  foil,  and  in  succession  contended 
with  each  of  these  gentlemen ;  but  the  result  was  unlucky  for 
Mentges,*  as  it  too  plainly  evinced  his  incapacity  for  the  business 
he  had  undertaken,  and  of  course,  soon  deprived  him  of  his 
pupils. 

At  the  city  tavern,  which  had  been  recently  established,  and 
was  in  great  vogue,  I  often  spent  my  evenings.  It  was  at  this 
time  much  frequented  by  Mr.  William  Hockley,  a  gentleman  of 
fortune,  who  was  liable  to  fits  of  mental  derangement ;  and  while 
these  prevailed,  was  a  prominent  figure  at  all  public  places :  for 
as  he  was  perfectly  harmless,  it  was  not  thought  necessary  to  re 
strain  him  from  going  abroad.  The  effects  of  this  misfortune 

tion  of  his  public  offices,  he  was  vigilant,  dignified  and  impartial.  Yet,  in  the 
bloom  of  life  ;  in  the  maturity  of  every  faculty  that  could  invigorate  or  embellish 
the  human  mind;  in  the  prosecution  of  the  most  important  services  that  a  citizen 
could  render  to  his  country  ;  in  the  perfect  enjoyment  of  the  highest  honours 
that  public  confidence  could  bestow  upon  an  individual ;  blessed  in  all  the 
pleasures  which  a  virtuous  reflection  could  furnish  from  the  past,  and  animated 
by  all  the  incitements  which  an  honourable  ambition  could  depict  in  the  future — 
he  ceased  to  be  mortal.  A  fever,  produced  by  a  fatal  assiduity  in  performing  his 
official  trust  at  a  crisis  interesting  to  the  nation,  suddenly  terminated  his  public 
career,  extinguished  the  splendour  of  his  private  prosperity,  and  on  the  23d  day 
of  August,  1795,  in  the  40th  year  of  his  age,  consigned  him  to  the  grave — La 
mented,  Honoured  and  Beloved." — ED. 

*  The  COLONEL  MENZIES,  of  Garden  ;  who  relates  the  following  amusing  anec 
dote  :  "  Sometime  previous  to  the  evacuation  of  Charleston,  Colonel  Menzies,  of 
the  Pennsylvania  line,  received  a  letter  from  a  Hessian  officer  within  the  garrison, 
who  had  once  been  a  prisoner,  and  treated  by  him  with  great  kindness,  express, 
ing  an  earnest  desire  to  show  his  gratitude,  by  executing  any  commission  with 
which  he  would  please  to  honour  him.  Colonel  Menzies  replied  to  it,  requesting- 
him  to  send  twelve  dozen  Cigars ;  but,  being  a  German,  and  little  accustomed 
to  express  himself  in  English,  he  was  not  very  accurate  in  his  orthography,  and 
wrote  Sizars.  Twelve  dozen  pairs  of  Scissors  were  accordingly  sent  him,  which, 
for  a  time,  occasioned  much  mirth  in  the  camp,  at  the  Colonel's  expense ;  but  no 
man  knew  better  how  to  profit  from  the  mistake.  Money  was  not,  at  the  period, 
in  circulation;  and  by  the  aid  of  his  runner,  distributing  his  scissors  over  the 
country,  in  exchange  for  poultry,  Colonel  Menzies  lived  luxuriously,  while  the 
fare  of  his  brother  officers  was  a  scanty  pittance  of  famished  beef,  bull-frogs 
from  ponds,  and  cray-fish  from  the  neighbouring  ditches." — ED. 


SINGUAR  CASE  OF  MENTAL  DERANGEMENT.  113 

appeal  too  forcibly  to  humanity,  to  be  considered  as  the  subject 
of  merriment,  otherwise  the  flights  of  this  gentleman  might,  for  a 
short  time,  have  been  truly  amusing.  His  fancies  were  the  most 
lively  and  brilliant  that  can  be  imagined.  He  had  full  persuasion 
that  he  excelled  in  every  thing  that  was  worthy  of  attention,  though 
the  turf  and  the  theatre  were  the  chief  scenes  of  his  glory.  Some 
times  he  achieved  the  exploits  himself;  at  others,  he  only  wit 
nessed  their  performance,  and,  like  Horace's  hand  ignobilis  ArgiSj 
conceived  he  had  been  the  hearer  of  the  most  wonderful  actors. 

"Se  credebat  miros  audire  trajedos." 

Whatever  he  chose  to  do,  that  he  chose  to  do  best :  Hallam 
was  but  a  fool  to  him  when  he  chose  to  be  a  player ;  he  had  more 
than  once,  when  a  fencer,  disarmed  Pike  with  a  pipe  shank  ;  and 
had  taken,  when  a  sportsman,  all  the  purses  at  all  the  race-grounds 
between  Savannah  and  New  York.  His  vivid  conceptions  sup 
plied  him  with  a  stud ;  and  he  would  run  over  the  names  of  his 
horses  and  their  pedigrees,  descanting,  as  he  went  along,  on  the 
respective  merits  of  his  riders  with  astonishing  volubility,  and 
with  a  gaiety  and  sprightliness  of  manner,  that  even  Garrick,  if 
he  could  have  equalled,  could  not  have  excelled:  And  this  rodo 
montade  was  occasionally  accompanied  by  so  peculiarly  agreeable 
and  animated  a  laugh,  as  might  have  served  for  a  model,  to  a 
performer  of  genteel  comedy.  Yet,  notwithstanding  these  wild 
coruscations  of  genius,  Mr.  Hockley^  when  himself,  was  remark 
ably  dull  and  phlegmatic  ;  one,  who  never  perhaps  had  had  a  foil 
in  his  hand,  and  who  had  little  or  no  relish  for  races,  or  plays. 
His  case  would  almost  induce  a  belief,  that  there  was  really  "a 
pleasure  in  being  mad,  which  none  but  madmen  know;"  and  that 
however  deplorable  the  condition  of  the  melancholy  or  raving 
maniac,  there  is  a  malady  of  the  mind,  which,  in  its  paroxysms, 
is  nothing  more  than  a  delightful  illusion,  Mentis  gratissimus 
error. 

I  suppose  the  time  I  have  now  arrived  at,  to  be  the  winter  of 
1774-5.  From  this  era,  although  I  could  not  look  back  upon 
my  conduct  with  approbation,  I  could  yet  do  it  without  anguish 
or  remorse.  I  had  spent  much  time  unprofitably,  but  had  been 
guilty  of  no  baseness :  I  had  been  rather  dissolute  in  my  habits 

10* 


114  RETROSPECTIVE  REFLECTIONS. 

—too  indulgent  to  gay  profligacy,  and  had  even  sometimes  asso 
ciated  .with  it  to  the  disadvantage  of  my  character,  but  had  hap 
pily  preserved  myself  free  from  its  contagion.  I  neither  liked  liquor 
nor  gaming;  I  had  contracted  no  debts — used  no  unwarrantable 
means  to  obtain  money  or  credit ;  nor,  among  my  vanities  and 
follies,  had  I  ever  committed  an  action,  which  might  tend  to  de 
prive  me  of  that  self-respect,  which  is  the  best  security  for  a  future 
course  of  honourable  and  moral  conduct.  I  was  open,  however, 
to  a  galling,  self-reproach,  in  that  at  the  age  of  nearly  twenty- 
three,  instead  of  being  in  a  situation  to  maintain  myself,  I  was 
still  dependant  upon  my  mother,  not  only  for  necessaries,  but  my 
pocket-expenses,  which  though  not  extremely  profuse,  were  less 
^limited  than  they  ought  to  have  been.* 

But  a  period  was  now  approaching  which  tended  equally  to 
interrupt  the  pursuits  of  pleasure  and  of  business ;  and,  inasmuch 
as  it  did  the  latter,  to  lessen  my  chagrin  at  being  disqualified  for 
engaging  in  it.  Pennsylvania,  hitherto  so  tranquil  and  so  happy, 
was  in  common  with  her  sister  provinces,  about  to  experience  the 
calamities,  which  sooner  or  later,  seem  the  inevitable  destiny  of 
every  region  inhabited  by  man.  Her  golden  age  was  at  its 
close  ;  and  that  iron  era  which  was  to  sever  the  ties  of  friendship 
and  of  blood;  to  set  father  against  son,  and  brother  against 
brother,  with  many  other  frightful  evils  in  its  train,  was  about  to 
supervene.  The  ministry  seemed  resolved  upon  enforcing  their 
assumed  right  of  taxing  the  colonies,  and  there  was  an  equal  de 
termination  on  the  part  of  America,  to  resist  the  pretension.  The 
supremacy  of  the  mother  country,-  it  was  held,  on  the  one  hand, 
necessarily  involved  the  right  of  legislating  over,  and  consequently 
of  imposing  taxes  on,  every  part  of  her  dominions  ;f  while  it  was 

*  Even  this  reproach  I  might  have  spared  myself,  had  I  reflected  that  there 
was  exclusively  due  to  me  from  my  father's  estate  about  170/.  the  proceeds 
of  a  prize  drawn  in  the  Academy  lottery,  by  a  ticket  presented  to  me  by  my 
grandfather,,  and  for  which,  he,  as  trustee  for  me,  took  a  bond  from  nfy  father,  re 
ceiving  the  money,  dated  Sept.  14th,  1756,  and  which  money  I  never  demanded. 
But  what  is  this  to  the  world  ?  Not  much  to  be  sure.  Still  it  is  something  to  a 
proscribed  man,  interested  in  mitigating  as  much  as  possible  his  atrocities. 

t  My  doctrine  has  ever  been,  that  legislation  involves  in  i-t  every  possible 
power  and  exercise  of  civil  government. — Lord  Lyttelton's  Letters. 

The  same  doctrine  is  maintained  by  General  Burgoyne  in  his  Letters  to  Gene- 
*al  Lee>  and  elsewhere.. 


CAUSES  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.  115 

contended  on  the  other,  to  be  a  fundamental  principle  of  the  con 
stitution,  that  no  money  could  be  drawn  from  the  people  without 
their  consent,  signified  through  the  medium  of  a  representation 
in  parliament ;  and  that  as  the  colonists  had  no  such  representa 
tion,  they  were  not  subject  to  parliamentary  taxation.  An  excep 
tion  was,  however,  made  with  respect  to  the  regulation  of  trade, 
and  a  distinction  was  taken  between  internal  and  external  taxes ; 
the  latter  of  wrhich  only,  not  having  revenue  for  their  object,  it 
was  said,  could  be  constitutionally  laid.  The  discussion  of  the 
points  in  controversy,  only  served  to  put  the  parties  farther 
asunder.  To  the  Americans,  it  disclosed  the  disadvantages  of  a 
dependance  on  a  power  so  remote  as  that  of  Britain,  and  so  op 
pressed  by  a  weight  of  debt.  It  was  also  perceived,  that  as  wre 
were  not,  so  neither  could  wre  be,  efficiently  represented  in  her 
parliament ;  and  that,  in  any  shape,  therefore,  to  admit  her  right 
to  tax  us,  wrould  be  to  throw  ourselves  entirely  on  the  generosity 
of  a  nation,  tempted  to  large  exactions  from  the  consideration 
that  she  would  be  relieved  in  proportion  to  what  she  could  draw 
from  us,*  and  prompted  to  invigorate  the  arm  of  coercion  from 
her  observation  of  our  rapidly  increasing  strength,  which,  if  not 
speedily  repressed  and  held  in  subjection,  might  soon  defy  con 
trol,  f  A  similar  view  of  the  subject,  no  doubt,  led  the  ministry 

*  The  American  war,  said  Mr.  Windham,  he  was  afraid  had  been  undertaken 
for  no  better  reason,  than  the  hope  of  saving  ourselves,  by  taxing  America. — 
Speech  in  1792. 

"May  1st,  1774." 

t  "  There  is  a  great  business  in  agitation,  and  has  been  for  some  time ;  but, 
without  the  thorough-bass  of  opposition,  it  makes  no  echo  out  of  Parliament. 
Its  Parliamentary  name  is— REGULATIONS  FOR  BOSTON.  Its  essence,  the  ques 
tion  of  sovereignty  over  America.  Shall  I  tell  you  in  one  word,  my  opinion  ?  If 
the  Bostonians  resist,  the  dispute  will  possibly  be  determined  in  favour  of  the 
crown  by  force.  If  they  temporize  or  submit,  waiting  for  a  more  favourable 
moment,  and  preparing  for  it,  the  wound,  skinned  over,  will  break  out  hereafter 
with  more  violence,  not  that  I  lay  any  stress  on  my  conjectures.  People  collect 
their  guesses  from  what  they  have  read,  heard,  or  seen,  but  times  are  unlike  ; 
and  a  single  man  can  sometimes  give  a  new  colour  to  an  age." 

"  November  Mth  1774." 

"  Don't  tell  me  I  am  grown  old  and  peevish  and  supercilious— name  the  ge- 
niusscs  of  1774,  and  I  submit.  The  next  Augustan  age  will  dawn  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Atlantic.  There  will,  perhaps,  be  a  Thucydidcs  at  Boston,  a  Xeno- 


116  CAUSES  OF  THE  REVOLUTION. 

to  appreciate  the  importance  of  retaining  in  due  dependance  so 
fruitful  a  field  of  exaction  ;  and  to  conceive,  that  if  the  application 
of  force  should  be  necessary  for  the  purpose,  the  sooner  it  should 
be  applied  the  better.  All  things  considered,  they  had  certainly 
some  grounds  to  calculate  upon  success:  And  as  to  the  proposal, 
of  raising  by  our  own  legislatures,  the  supplies  that  might  be 
asked  for,  besides,  that  an  acquiescence  in  it,  would  very  strongly 
resemble  a  renunciation  of  sovereignty,  it  is  scarcely  in  the  nature 
of  powrer  to  condescend  to  petition  for  that  which  it  supposes 
itself  able  to  compel ;  and  pride  is  ever  more  gratified  in  the  ex 
ercise  of  generosity,  than  in  the  performance  of  justice.  The 
ministry  had  the  support  of  a  great  majority  of  the  nation  at 
home.  Interest,  which  made  resistance  popular  with  us,  made 
compulsory  measures  popular  with  them.  It  was  this  collision, 
that  at  this  time,  severed  the  two  countries ;  though  nature,  which 
had  placed  the  Atlantic  ocean  between  them,  had  thereby  inter 
posed  an  insurmountable  bar  to  a  much  longer  colonial  connexion 
on  constitutional  principles.*  In  another  viewT,  when  the  nur 
turing  season  is  past,  the  young  of  all  kinds  are  left  to  act  for 
themselves.  Even  man,  by  a  law7  of  his  owrn,  pursuing  that  of 
nature,  has  appointed  a  time  for  the  enfranchisement  of  youth ; 
and  America  had  perhaps  completed  her  years  of  minority.  But 
waving  analogies,  that  may  be  fitter  for  illustrations  than  argu 
ments,  the  merits  of  the  question,  wTere,  I  think,  on  the  side  of  the 

phon  at  New  York,  and,  in  time,  a  Virgil  at  Mexico,  and  a  Newton  at  Peru. 
At  last,  some  curious  traveller  from  Lima  will  visit  England  and  give  a  descrip 
tion  of  the  ruins  of  St.  Paul's,  like  the  editions  of  Balbec  and  Palmyra;  but  am 
I  not  prophesying,  contrary  to  my  consummate  prudence,  and  casting  horo 
scopes  of  empire  like  Rousseau?  Yes;  well,  I  will  go  and  dream  of  my  visions." 
— Walpole's  Letters  to  Horace  Mann. — ED. 

*  Dr.  Franklin,  writing  in  his  journal  on  the  14th  December,  1774,  says,  "  In 
the  course  of  conversation,  more  than  sixteen  years  ago,  long  before  any  dispute 
with  America,  the  present  Lord  Camden,  then  Mr.  Pratt,  said  to  him  :  '  For  all 
what  you  Americans  say  of  your  loyalty,  and  all  that,  I  know  you  will  one  day 
throw  off  your  dependence  on  this  country  ;  and1,  notwithstanding  your  boasted 
affection  for  it,  you  will  set  up  for  independence.'  "  Dr.  Franklin  said  that  he 
answered  him,  "No  such  idea  was  ever  entertained  by  the  Americans,  nor  will 
any  such  ever  enter  their  heads,  unless  you  grossly  abuse  them."  "  Very  true," 
replied  Mr.  Pratt,  that  is  one  of  the  main  causes  I  sec  will  happen,  and  will 
produce  the  event." — ED. 


MR.  JOSEPH  GALLOWAY.  117 

colonies ;  and  the  inference,  that  the  authority  contended  for  by 
Britain,  would  ultimately  reduce  them  to  vassalage,  was  by  no 
means  chimerical.  This  being  generally  perceived  and  assented 
to,  a  great  proportion,  and  perhaps  a  great  majority  of  the  most 
wealthy  and  respectable  in  each  of  the  provinces,  was  arrayed  in 
opposition  to  the  ministerial  claim.  I  speak  of  the  early  stages  of 
the  contest.  In  Pennsylvania,  this  was  certainly  the  case,  though 
as  to  the  extent  to  which  the  opposition  should  be  carried,  there 
was  doubtless  a  great  diversity  of  opinion ;  many  sincere  whigs 
considering  a  separation  from  the  mother  country  as  the  greatest 
evil  that  could  befal  us.  The  merchants  were  on  the  whig  side, 
with  few  exceptions ;  and  the  lawyers,  who,  from  the  bent  of  their 
studies,  as  well  as  their  habit  of  speaking  in  public,  w^ere  best 
qualified  to  take  a  lead  in  the  various  assemblies  that  became  ne 
cessary,  were  little  less  unanimous  in  the  same  cause. 

A  few,  indeed,  of  the  oldest  and  most  conspicuous  practitioners 
in  Philadelphia  were  either  disaffected  or  lukewarm.  Among 
thesea  Mr.  Joseph  Galloway,*  though  a  member  of  the  first  Con 
gress,  was  known  to  be  a  disapprover  of  the  measures  pursuing. 
By  obtaining  a  seat  in  Congress,  therefore,  his  design  undoubtedly 
was,  to  impede,  if  he  could  not  divert  the  current  of  affairs ;  but 
finding  no  matter  to  work  upon,  and  taking  the  hint,  probably, 
from  a  halter  coiled  up  in  a  box,  that  was  said  to  be  sent  to  him, 
he  gave  up  the  contest,  and  went  off  to  the  invading  army,  as 
soon  as  an  opportunity  offered.  From  Mr.  Chew,f  Mr.  Tilghman,f 

*  See  Appendix  F,  for  a  biographical  notice  of  Mr.  Galloway. — ED. 

t  MR.  CHEW  was  prominent  in  early  times.  In  1772  he  was  preferred  to  the 
Bench.  Perhaps  no  one  exceeded  him  in  an  accurate  knowledge  of  Common  law* 
or  in  the  sound  exposition  of  Statutes;  his  solid  judgment,  tenacious  memory,  and 
persevering  industry,  rendered  him  a  safe  and  steady  guide.  At  the  bar  his 
language  was  pertinent  and  correct,  but  seldom  characterized  by  effusions  of  elo 
quence  ;  his  arguments  were  close,  and  frequently  methodized  on  the  strict  rules 
of  logic ;  his  object  always  seemed  to  be  to  produce  conviction,  not  to  obtain  ap 
plause.!' — Watson's  Annals. 

The  name  will  be  remembered  from  its  association  with  "Chew's  House,"  and 
the  Battle  of  Germantown.  He  was  the  owner  of  the  property,  which  still  (1846) 
remains  in  the  family. — ED. 

t  Mr.  I.  Tilghman,  father  of  Mr.  Edward  Tilghman  and  of  Mr.  William 
Tilghman,  late  Chief  Justice  of  Pennsylvania. — ED. 


118  STATE  OF  PARTIES. 

and  Mr.  Shippen,*  no  activity  was  expected  or  claimed,  as 
they  were  what  was  called  Proprietary  men,  and  in  the  enjoy 
ment,  under  that  interest,  of  offices  of  trust  and  importance. 
Their  favourable  disposition  to  the  American  cause,  was,  however 
inferred,  from  the  sons  of  the  first  two  having  joined  the  military 
associations.  Mr.  John  Ross,  who  loved  ease  and  Madeira,  much 
better  than  liberty  and  strife,  declared  for  neutrality,  saying,  that 
let  who  would  be  1dng,  he  well  knew  that  he  should  be  subject.  An 
observation,  which,  judging  only  from  events,  may  be  thought  by 
some,  to  contain  as  much  intrinsic  wisdom  as  the  whole  of  the 
Farmers  Letter  s,  with  all  the  legal,  political,  and  constitutional 
knowledge  they  display.  But  the  abuse  of  liberty,  ought  not  to 
induce  apathy  to  oppression,  however  it  may  dispose  us  to  delibe 
rate  before  we  plunge  into  a  new  order  of  things.  Mr.  James  Al 
len  was  also  suspected  of  having  no  very  cordial  affection  for  the 
cause,  although  he  shouldered  a  musket  in  the  ranks  of  the  mi 
litia.  What  chiefly  led  to  the  suspicion,  was,  that  he  had  laboured 
to  organize  a  committee  of  privates,  which,  however  accordant 
such  a  measure  might  be,  with  the  republican  spirit,  that  was 
coming  in  fashion,  it  was,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  a  very  question 
able  experiment  on  military  subordination  and  discipline.  As 
business  had,  for  some  time,  been  entirely  laid  aside,  I  no  longer 
attended  his  office,  and  consequently  had  less  opportunity  of 
knowing  his  real  sentiments.  His  brother,  Mr.  Andrew  Allen,  the 
attorney-general,  was  more  ardent,  and  considered  also  to  be  more 
sincere.  He  had  attached  himself  to  the  corps  of  city  Cavalry, 
commanded  by  Mr.  Markoe ;  but  not  long  after,  recognising  his 
error,  he  withdrew,  giving  out  that  he  would  hang  up  his  cap  and 
regimentals  as  monuments  of  his  folly,  and  upon  the  declaration 
of  independence,  he  sought  an  asylum  with  General  Howe. 
These  were  the  principal  gentlemen  of  standing  in  the  profession 
who  may  be  considered  as  exceptions  to  the  temper  of  the  Penn 
sylvania  bar. 

On  the  whig  side  of  the  question,  Mr.  John  Dickinson,  always 
in  the  political  antipodes  of  Mr.  Galloway,  was,  at  this  time, 

*  Edward  Shippen,  Chief  Justice  of  Pennsylvania,  born  1729,  died  April  15, 
1806.  He  was  a  cousin  of  Dr.  Wm.  Shippen  of  the  University,  and  father  of  Mrs. 
General  Arnold. — ED. 


JOHN  DICKINSON. GENERAL  REED.  119 

most  prominent  and  distinguished.  By  his  Farmer's  Letters,  he 
had  acquired  a  high  reputation,  both  for  patriotism  and  ability ; 
though  he  was,  if  I  mistake  not,  among  the  disapprovers  of  inde 
pendence,  and  thence  fell  under  a  cloud,  which  obscured  him  all 
the  war,  and  even  involved  him  in  the  suspicion  of  disaffection 
and  toryism.*  Next  in  conspicuousness  to  Mr.  Dickinson, 
among  the  members  of  the  city  bar,  were  Mr.  Reedf  and  Mr. 

*  For  a  Sketch  of  the  Life  and  Character  of  Mr.  Dickinson,  see  Appendix  G. — 
ED. 

t  Mr.  Reed  was  the  son  of  Mr.  Andrew  Reed,  from  Ireland,  "engaged  in  trade 
in  the  town  of  Trenton,"  and  was  born  there  in  1742. 

In  1775,  at  the  age  of  33  years,  he  was  elected  President  of  the  Provincial 
Convention.  In  the  same  year  he  was  appointed  Military  Secretary  to  WASHING 
TON,  who  appears  to  have  entertained  a  high  opinion  of  his  talents  and  patriotism. 
In  June,  1776,  he  was,  at  the  suggestion  of  WASHINGTON,  appointed  by  Congress 
Adjutant-General  of  the  Continental  Army.  The  Appendix  to  the  fourth  volume 
of  Sparks'  "Life  and  Writings  of  WASHINGTON"  contains  a  correspondence  be- 
tween  General  WASHINGTON  and  Mr.  Reed,  upon  the  subject  of  a  misunderstand, 
ing  between  them,  to  which  the  reader,  who  may  feel  an  interest  in  the  matter,  is 
referred. 

On  the  12th  of  May,  1777,  Reed  was  elected  a  brigadier  by  Congress,  and  in 
September  of  the  same  year,  he  was  elected  to  the  Continental  Congress.  "  Such, 
however,  was  the  active  interest  which  he  took,  in  the  operations  of  the  campaign 
in  Pennsylvania,  that  he  did  not  join  the  delegation  in  Congress  at  all  under  this 
election.  But  just  at  the  close  of  the  campaign,  a  new  election  took  place  on  the 
10th  of  December  when  he  was  again  chosen,  Franklin  and  Robert  Morris  being 
in  the  same  delegation."  The  attempt  to  bribe  General  Reed  by  Governor  John- 
stone,  one  of  the  British  Commissioners,  who  arrived  in  1778,  is  detailed  at  length 
in  the  modest  and  appropriate  "Life  of  Joseph  Reed  "  by  his  grandson  Mr.  Henry 
Reed,  of  Philadelphia.  Associated  as  Commissioners  with  Mr.  Johnstone,  were 
the  Earl  of  Carlisle,  and  Mr.  William  Eden,  afterwards  Lord  Aukland.  They 
left  England  in  April,  1778.  Walpole  alludes  to  them  on  the  5th  of  March,  in  his 
letter  to  Horace  Mann.  "  You  will  have  been  impatient  for  the  consequences  of 
Lord  North's  Conciliatory  Plan.  The  substantial  consequences  cannot,  you  are  sen- 
•  sible,  be  known  till  the  Commissioners  arrive  in  America  and  return  the  answer 
of  the  Congress."  It  is  to  the  son  of  the  Earl  of  Carlisle,  who  fell  at  Waterloo,  that 
Byron  beautifully  and  penitentially  alludes  in  the  third  Canto  of  Childe  Harold  : 

"Their  praise  is  hymn'd  by  loftier  harps  than  mine  ; 
Yet  one  I  would  select  from  that  proud  throng, 
Partly  because  they  blend  me  with  his  line, 
And  partly  that  I  did  his  Sire  some  wrong." 

In  October  1778,  Walpole  again  writes,  "  Governor  Johnstone  is  returned,  the 
other  two  Commissioners  remain  to  make  peace,  to  which  we  are  told  the  Ameri- 


120  MR.  M'KEAN. 

M'Kean,*  each  of  whom  was  distinguished  both  during  and  after 
the  revolution.  The  [-young  gentlemen  of  the  profession  with  a 

cans  are  disposed  ;  a  proof  of  which  is  our  sending  another  army  thither."  The 
reason  for  Johnstone's  return  is  thus  accounted  for  by  the  Editor  of  Walpole's 
Letters  :  "Governor  Johnstone  had  been  charged  by  the  Congress  with  an  attempt 
to  corrupt  and  bribe  General  Reed  with  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  pounds  and  a 
public  situation  in  the  Colonies ;  to  which  offer  the  General  is  said  to  have 
answered,  '  that  he  was  not  worth  purchasing,  but,  such  as  he  was,  the  King  of 
England  was  not  rich  enough  to  do  it.'  In  consequence  of  this,  the  Congress  in- 
terdicted  all  intercourse  and  correspondence  with  the  Commissioners  while 
Governor  Johnstone  continued  one  of  them.  He  therefore  resigned  and  returned 
to  England." 

In  a  letter  to  George  Selwyn,  of  the  6th  of  November,  Mr.  Charles  Townshend 
says,  "  Governor  Johnstone  is  as  mad  as  a  bull.  He  foams  at  the  mouth,  and 
swears  that  he  will  impeach  Lord  Howe  and  Sir  William,  for  not  reducing 
America,  Wedderburn  says,  he  talks  in  a  very  manly  style;  arid  he  is  much 
caressed  by  ministers  whom  he  has  abused  in  so  coarse  a  style  to  the  Americans  : 
You  may  be  sure  he  caresses  them  in  his  turn.  He  puts  me  in  mind  of  a  charac 
ter  of  King  James  I.,  given  by  an  old  Scotch  Lord  at  his  accession :  '  Ken  you 
an  ape!  If  I'se  hold  him  he  will  bite  you;  if  you  hold  him,  he  will  bite 
me.'  General  Reed,  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  both  branches  of  the  state  govern- 
ment  was,  in  1778,  elected  "  President "  of  Pennsylvania.  He  was  subsequently 
re-elected  to  Congress,  and  died,  at  Philadelphia,  in  March  1785,  in  his  forty-third 
year. 

His  career,— his  public  career  especially,  was  short  but  truly  brilliant.  Like 
his  illustrious  friend,  William  Bradford,  of  whom  mention  has  already  been  made, 
and  whose  pre-eminent  abilities  he  was  among  the  first  to  discover  and  appreciate, 
he  lived  at  a  stirring  period,  fruitful  in  great  events,  many  of  which  were  crowded 
into  the  brief  time  allotted  to  him  here,  and  with  which  his  name  is  honourably 
and  permanently  associated. — ED. 

*  THOMAS  MCLEAN— afterwards  Chief  Justice  and  also  Governor  of  Pennsyl. 

vania an  able  and  ardent  politician  of  the  ultra  democratic  school,  although  his 

training  and  associations  in  early  life  were  of  a  character  to  influence  to  the 
adoption  of  an  opposite  political  creed.  He  was  a  zealous  revolutionary  patriot 
and,  in  his  earlier  political  career  especially,  is  entitled  to  warm  commendation. 
He  was  born  at  Chester,  in  Pennsylvania,  in  1734,  and  commenced  the  practice 
of  his  profession  at  the  age  of  twenty-one.  In  October,  1762,  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Assembly  for  the  county  of  New  Castle,  and  was  annually 
returned  for  seventeen  successive  years,  although  he  resided  in  Philadelphia  for 
the  last  six  years  of  that  period.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  General  Congress, 
which  met  at  New  York  in  1765.  In  the  same  year  he  was  appointed  Judge  of 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  and  of  the  Orphan's  Court  for  the  county  of  New 
Castle.  In  November  term,  1765,  and  February  term,  1766,  he  was  one  of  the 
bench  that  ordered  the  officers  of  the  court  to  proceed  in  their  duties,  as  usual, 
on  unstamped  paper.  In  1771  he  was  appointed  Collector  of  the  port  of  New 
Castle.  He  was  appointed  a  delegate  to  the  General  Congress  of  1774,  from  the 


MR.  M'KEAN. 


121 


few  exceptions,  were  also  in  whig  politics ;  and  accordingly  fell 
into  some  of  the  associations  which  were  forming  for  the  purpose 
of  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  tactics.  In  the  country  the  same 
spirit  was  prevalent  at  the  bar,  the  members  of  which,  some  of 
whom  were  of  the  first  eminence,  distinguished  themselves  by 
their  zeal  in  opposition  to  the  ministerial  claims ;  and  as  these 

lower  counties  of  Delaware,  and  he  continued  to  serve  in  that  body  until  1783; 
He  was  President  of  Congress  in  1781,  and,  although  a  member  of  that  body,  he 
held  and  executed  the  office  of  Chief  Justice  of  Pennsylvania,  from  the  year  1777. 
He  was  exceedingly  active  in  promoting  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  which 
he  signed,  and  soon  after  that  event  marched  with  a  battalion,  of  which  he  was 
Colonel,  into  New  Jersey^  to  support  General  WASHINGTON,  and  acquitted  himself 
gallantly  in  several  dangerous  skirmishes,  while  he  remained  with  the  army. 
Upon  his  return  to  Delaware,  he  drew  up,  in  a  single  night,  a  Constitution  for 
that  State,  which,  on  the  following  day,  was  unanimously  adopted  by  the  As 
sembly.  In  1777  he  acted  as  "President*'  of  the  state  of  Delaware.  "At  that  period," 
as  he  relates, "  he  was  hunted  like  a  fox  by  the  enemy  ;  and  was  compelled  to  remove 
his  family  fivt3  times  in  the  course  of  a  few  months,  and  at  length  placed  them 
in  a  little  log  house  on  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna."  While  here  he  was 
treated  with  great  deference  by  the  country  people,  and  the  straggling  Indians^ 
who  had  their  village  in  that  vicinity.  The  Chief  Justice,  when  on  the  Bench, 
wore  an  immense  cocked-hat,  and  was  dressed  in  a  scarlet  gown.  He  discharged 
the  office  of  Chief  Justice  for  twenty -two  years,  and  "gave  striking  proofs  of 
ability,  impartiality  and  courage." 

"  He  was  a  member  of  the  Convention  of  Pennsylvania  that  ratified  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  and  made  a  masterly  speech  in  its  support."  He 
was  also  a  member  of  the  Convention  that  formed  the  first  Constitution  of  Penn 
sylvania  ;  a  body  composed  of  some  of  the  purest  and  ablest  men  of  any  age  or 
nation,  but  whose  wise  and  patriotic  labours  became  unpalatable  to  the  '•'•pro 
gressive  democracy'1''  of  recent  and  more  enlightened  times  ;  and  Pennsylvanians 
have  now  the  privilege  and  the  honour  of  living  under  a  Constitution,  the  work 
of  men,  previously  "unknown  to  fame,"  and  whose  magnificent  labours  will^  it  is 
believed,  prove  satisfactory  to  the  "  democracy,"  however  "  progressive^"  for  seve 
ral  years  to  come  ! 

lu  1779,  Judge  McKean  was  elected  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  and  held  the 
office  during  the  constitutional  period  of  nine  years,  having  been  twice  re-elected. 
In  1803  it  was  proposed  to  him  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency — 
a  post  of  honour  then,  as  it  had  previously,  been  filled  by  men  who  had  earned  the 
respect  of  their  country — but  he  declined.  "  In  1808  he  retired  from  public  life,  in 
which  he  had  been  engaged  for  fifty  years;  and  died  in  June,  1817,  in  his  84th 
year.  He  was  one  of  the  fathers  of  the  Republic,  and  in  this  quality  will  be 
honoured,  aside  from  the  resentments  which  his  proceedings  as  a  party -politician 
engendered." — ED. 
11 


122  VOLUNTEER  COMPANIES. 

very  forcibly  appealed  to  the  pocket,  the  great  body  of  German 
farmers,  extremely  tenacious  of  property,  were  readily  gained. 
Exceptions  however  were  to  be  found:  The  Menonists  and  some 
other  sects  were  generally  disaffected.  As  to  the  genuine  sons  of 
Hibernia,  it  was  enough  for  them  to  know  that  England  was  the 
antagonist.  Stimulants  here,  were  wholly  superfluous ;  and  the 
sequel  has  constantly  shown,  that  in  a  contest  with  Englishmen, 
Irishmen,  like  the  mettlesome  coursers  of  Phaeton,  only  require 
reining  in.  Labor  est  inhibere  volentes.  The  spirit  of  liberty 
and  resistance  being  so  generally  diffused,  it  seems  scarcely  ne 
cessary  to  mention,  that  it  drew  into  its  vortex  the  mechanical 
interest,  as  well  as  that  numerous  portion  of  the  community  in 
republics,  styled  The  Peopk;  in  monarchies,  The  Populace;  or 
still  more  irreverently,  The  Rabble  or  Canaille.  But  notwith 
standing  this  almost  unanimous  agreement  in  favour  of  liberty, 
neither  were  all  disposed  to  go  the  same  lengths  for  it,  nor  were 
they  perfectly  in  unison  in  the  idea  annexed  to  it.  Wilkes  had 
just  rendered  the  term  popular  in  America;  and,  though  perhaps 
there  is  not  any  one  in  our  language  more  indefinite,  yet  the  sense 
in  which  it  was  doubtless  most  generally  received,  wras  that  which 
brings  it  nearest  to  licentiousness  and  anarchy,  since  hallowed  by 
the  phrases  of  Equality,  and  the  Rights  of  Man. 

The  Quakers,  as  a  society,  were  charged  with  disaffection,  and 
probably  with  truth.  They  were  desirous,  however,  of  screening 
themselves  under  their  non-resisting  principles  and  known  aver 
sion  to  war;  and  in  this,  although  they  might  not  have  been  sin 
cere,  they  at  least  were  consistent.  But  notwithstanding  their 
endeavour  to  keep  aloof  from  the  contest,  a  good  number  of  their 
young  men  swerved  from  their  tenets ;  and  affecting  cockades  and 
uniforms,  openly  avowed  themselves  fighting  meu^  They  went 
so  far  as  to  form  a  company  of  light  infantry,  under  the  command 
of  Mr.  Copperthwaite,*  which  was  called  The  Quaker  Blues,  and 
instituted  in  a  spirit  of  competition  with  The  Greens,  or,  as  they 
were  sneeringly  styled,  The  silk  stoc/dng  company,  commanded  by 

*  JOSEPH  COWPERTHVVAIT. — He  was  Sheriff  of  Philadelphia  County,  and  sub- 
sequently  a  Justice  of  the  Peace.  A  gentleman  of  intelligence  and  influence. — 

ED. 


VOLUNTEER  COMPANIES.  123 

Mr.  John  Cadwalader,*  and  which  having  early  associated,  had 
already  acquired  celebrity.  This  nickname  evinced,  that  the 
canker  worm,  jealousy,  already  tainted  the  infantile  purity  of  our 
patriotism.  The  command  of  this  company,  consisting  of  the 
flower  of  the  city,  \vas  too  fine  a  feather  in  the  cap  of  its  leader  to 
be  passed  by  unenvied:  it  was,  therefore,  branded  as  an  aristo 
cratic  assemblage,  and  Mr.  (since  general)  Mifflin,  had  the  credit 
of  inventing  the  invidious  appellation.  To  this  association  I  be 
longed.  There  wrere  about  seventy  of  us.  We  met  morning  and 
evening,  and  from  the  earnest  and  even  enthusiastic  devotion  of 
most  of  us  to  learn  the  duty  of  soldiers,  the  company,  in  the 
course  of  a  summer's  training,  became  a  truly  respectable  militia 
corps.  When  it  had  attained  some  adroitness  in  the  exercises, 
we  met  but  once  a  day.  This  was  in  the  afternoon,  and  the  place 
of  rendezvous  the  house  of  the  captain,  where  capacious  demi 
johns  of  Madeira,  were  constantly  set  out  in  the  yard  where  we 
formed,  for  our  refreshment  before  marching  out  to  exercise.  The 
ample  fortune  of  Mr.  Cadwalader  had  enabled  him  to  fill  his  cel 
lars  with  the  choicest  liquors ;  and  it  must  be  admitted,  that  he 
dealt  them  out  with  the  most  gentlemanly  liberality.  He  probably 
meant  it,  in  part,  as  an  indemnification  for  our  voluntary  submis 
sion  while  under  arms,  to  all  the  essential  points,  as  well  as  the 
little  etiquette  of  subordination,  required  of  privates  under  the 
most  regular  discipline. 

On  taking  a  retrospect  of  the  company,  and  looking  round  for 

*  John  Cadwalader  was,  subsequently  to  this  period,  appointed  Colonel  of  one 
of  the  City  Battalions,  from  which  rank  he  rose  to  that  of  Brigadier-General,  and 
was  entrusted  with  the  command  of  the  Pennsylvania  troops  in  the  Winter  cam- 
paign  of  '76  and  '77.  He  acted  in  this  command,  and  as  a  volunteer,  in  the 
Battles  of  Princeton,  Brandy  wine,  Germantown,  Monmouth,  and  on  other  occa 
sions,  and  received  the  thanks  of  WASHINGTON,  whose  confidence  and  esteem  he 
always  possessed.  He  was  appointed  to  command  one  of  the  divisions  into  which 
the  army  was  separated  when  WASHINGTON  determined  to  attack  the  enemy  at 
Trenton ;  but  in  consequence  of  the  ice  in  the  river,  neither  he  nor  General 
Irvine,  the  commander  of  another  division,  could  cross  the  river  in  time.  But, 
the  day  after  WASHINGTON'S  return,  he  effected  the  passage,  supposing  him  still 
on  the  Jersey  side,  and  pursued  the  vanquished  enemy  to  Burlington.  In  1778, 
he  was  appointed  by  Congress,  General  of  Cavalry — an  appointment  which  he 
declined  on  the  score  of  being  more  useful  in  the  station  which  he  occupied.  He 
died  Feb.  10,  1786,  in  the  44th  year  of  his  age.— Ency.  Amer. — ED. 


124  POLITICAL  CONSISTENCY. 

those  who  remain  of  it,  I  see  a  few  who  are  yet  alive  and  in  re 
spectable  situations.  Much  the  greater  number,  however,  have 
resigned  their  places  to  that  posterity,  for  whose  interests  it  was 
the  fashion  of  seventy-six  to  be  extremely  concerned.  It  is  to  be 
hoped,  therefore,  that  posterity  will  continue  to  pay  the  easy  re- 
compence  of  an  annual  toast  to  the  memory  of  those  departed 
friends,  who  no  longer  stand  in  their  way.  But  I  am  chiefly 
struck  with  the  strong  tendency  to  evaporation,  which  inheres  in 
a  fiery  zeal ;  as  well  as  with  the  utter  insignificance  of  that  dull 
quality,  consistency,  on  the  versatile  scale  of  republican  virtue.  I 
have  a  gentleman  in  my  eye  who  was  ever  among  the  foremost 
in  patriotism,  and  for  volunteering  our  services  on  every  occasion. 
Was  there  an  enterprise  in  view,  replete  with  difficulty  and  dan 
ger!  The  Greens,  in  his  opinion,  should  monopolize,  or  at  least 
partake  of  the  glory.  Was  there  a  sacrifice  to  be  made  to 
economy !  They  should  be  the  first  to  set  an  example  of  frugality 
to  their  countrymen.  In  short,  were  it  "to  fight,  to  fast,  to  drink 
up  Elsil,  eat  a  crocodile,  he'd  do't."  Yet  this  gentleman,  so  full 
of  zeal  in  seventy- five,  was  so  thoroughly  emptied  of  it  in  seventy- 
six,  as  to  translate  himself  to  the  royal  standard  in  New  York ; 
for  which,  however,  he  found  a  salvo  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence.  On  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  he  was,  in  conside 
ration  of  his  youth  and  inexperience  when  he  committed  the  faux 
pas,  permitted  to  return  to  the  bosom  of  his  country,  and  adroitly 
falling  in  with  the  views  of  the  prevailing  party,  he  obtained  a 
subordinate  appointment  in  the  Treasury  Department,  during  the 
Presidencies  of  Washington  and  Adarns :  when  again  wheeling 
about  with  the  public  sentiment,  which  ushered  into  office  first 
M'Kean  and  then  Jefferson,  he  obtained,  upon  the  principle  pro 
bably  of  a  quid  pro  quo,  an  office  from  each  of  them,  the  latter  of 
which  he  yet  retains,  and,  like  the  French  revolution,  returning 
to  the  point  from  which  it  set  out,  he  is  now  as  pure  a  patriot  as 
he  was  at  the  commencement  of  his  career.  It  must  be  confessed, 
that  the  gentleman  has  had  a  serpentine  course :  Yet,  without  ar 
raigning  his  motives,  which  may  have  been  good,  though  diver 
sified,  I  shall  content  myself  with  observing,  that  he  has  had  the 
vsingular  fortune  to  behold  with  equal  eye,  the  carting  of  the  tories 
\n  Philadelphia  in  the  year  1775;  the  sad  havoc  of  the  whigs  ia 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  WAR ANECDOTE.  125 

New  York,  in  the  year  1776 ;  the  discomfiture  of  the  anti-fede 
ralists,  in  the  years  1790  and  1794;  then  the  overthrow  and  per 
secution  of  the  federalists  in  the  year  1800 :  In  each  and  every  of 
these  turmoils,  he  has  contrived  to  be  uppermost,  and  still  rides 
triumphant  on  the  surface  of  the  tempestuous  sea,  an  unequivocal 
proof  of  his  fitness  for  the  times  in  which  he  has  been  destined  to 
appear.  This  instance  would  not  have  been  adverted  to,  were  it 
not  that  in  an  illustration  of  the  times,  it  was  too  remarkable  to  be 
omitted. 

In  preparing  for  the  scene  of  war  that  was  approaching,  no 
martial  employment  was  neglected.  It  was  even  deemed  of  con 
sequence  to  be  a  marksman  with  a  pistol ;  and  connected  with 
this  object,  I  recollect  an  unpleasant  incident,  which  might  also 
have  proved  a  serious  one.  Captain  Biddle  and  myself  having 
gone  out  to  take  a  shot,  and  posted  ourselves  in  a  situation, 
thought  convenient  and  safe,  we  marked  our  target  on  a  board 
fence,  in  a  cross  street,  between  Arch  and  Race  streets.  We  had 
fired  several  times,  and  were  loading  again,  when  a  man  suddenly 
coming  upon  us,  out  of  breath,  pale  as  ashes,  without  his  hat 
and  his  hair  standing  on  end,  exclaimed,  that  we  had  killed  his 
child.  This  information,  as  may  be  supposed,  put  a  stop  to  our 
amusement;  and  we  immediately  accompanied  him  to  his  house, 
with  feelings  not  to  be  envied.  When  we  arrived,  however,  we 
found  matters  not  so  bad  as  had  been  anticipated.  The  child  was 
crying  in  its  mother's  arms  :  it  had  been  struck  upon  the  body  ;  but 
the  force  of  the  blow  had  been  broken  by  a  loose,  linsey  petticoat. 
The  ball  had  passed  through  a  pane  of  glass ;  and  from  the  ap 
pearance  of  the  hole  exactly  corresponding  to  its  size  without  di 
verging  cracks,  it  must  have  had  considerable  force,  though  dis 
charged  at  a  distance  which  we  thought  greater  than  our  pistols 
would  carry.  By  expressions  of  concern  for  the  accident  and  the 
accompaniment  of  a  few  dollars,  our  transgression  was  overlooked, 
and  all  perturbation  composed. 

The  daily  unremitted  course  of  exercise  which  my  military 
duties  and  my  fencing,  at  this  time  composed,  had  thoroughly 
established  my  health.  The  serious  aspect  of  the  times,  had  also 
brought  temperance  into  fashion ;  and  instead  of  tavern  suppers, 
I  generally  passed  my  evenings  with  my  female  acquaintance, 

11* 


126  DR.  KEARSLEY. 

among  whom  there  was  one  to  whom  my  affections  were  deeply 
and  permanently  engaged.  The  attachment  was  reciprocal ;  and 
the  din  of  arms  which  threatened  us  with  a  separation,  involving  a 
cruel  uncertainty  in  respect  to  the  destiny  of  our  love,  but  served  to 
render  it  more  ardent  and  more  tender."*  Vows  of  constancy  were 
mutually  plighted ;  and  we  gave  so  much  of  our  time  to  each  other, 
that  I  had  little  to  spare  to  my  quondam  companions,  whom  I 
was  really  desirous  of  shaking  off,  and  who,  on  their  part,  com 
plained  that  I  had  turned  dangler,  and  become  good  for  nothing. 
There  was  a  time  when  their  raillery  might  have  had  some  effect, 
but  now  it  was  entirely  thrown  away,  and,  like  a  true  knight,  I 
wholly  devoted  myself  to  my  mistress  and  my  country. 

Among  the  disaffected  in  Philadelphia,  Doctor  Kearsley  was 
pre-eminently  ardent  and  rash.f  An  extremely  zealous  loyalist, 
and  impetuous  in  his  temper,  he  had  given  much  umbrage  to  the 
whigs ;  and  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  he  had  been  detected  in  some 
hostile  machinations.  Hence  he  was  deemed  a  proper  subject 
for  the  fashionable  punishment  of  tarring,  feathering  and  carting. 
He  was  seized  at  his  own  door  by  a  party  of  the  militia,  and,  in 
the  attempt  to  resist  them,  received  a  wound  in  his  hand  from  a 
bayonet.  Being  overpowered,  he  was  placed  in  a  cart  pro 
vided  for  the  purpose,  and  amidst  a  multitude  of  boys  and 
idlers,  paraded  through  the  streets  to  the  tune  of  the  rogue's 
march.  I  happened  to  be  at  the  coffee-house  when  the  concourse 
arrived  there.  They  made  a  halt,  while  the  Doctor  foaming  with 
rage  and  indignation,  without  his  hat,  his  wig  dishevelled  and 
bloody  from  his  wounded  hand,  stood  up  in  the  cart  and  called 
for  a  bowl  of  punch.  It  was  quickly  handed  to  him  ;  when,  so 
vehement  was  his  thirst,  that  he  drained  it  of  its  contents  before 
he  took  it  from  his  lips.  What  were  the  feelings  of  others  on 
this  lawless  proceeding,  I  know  not,  but  mine,  I  must  confess, 

*  "And  flinty  is  her  heart  can  vie\v, 
To  battle  march  a  lover  true, 
Can  heary  perchance,  his  last  adieu, 
Nor  own  her  share  of  pain." 

t  Nephew  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  John  Kearsley — founder  of  "Christ  Church 
Hospital  for  Poor  Widows."  A  gentleman  imich  distinguished  for  his  public 
spirit,  and  architectural  taste." — ED. 


MAJOR  SKENE.  127 

revolted  at  the  spectacle.  I  was  shocked  at  seeing  a  lately  re 
spected  citizen  so  cruelly  vilified,  and  was  imprudent  enough  to 
say,  that  had  I  been  a  magistrate,  I  would,  at  every  hazard,  have 
interposed  my  authority  in  suppression  of  the  outrage.  But  this 
was  not  the  only  instance  which  convinced  me,  that  I  wanted 
nerves  for  a  revolutionist.  It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that 
the  conduct  of  the  populace  was  marked  by  a  lenity  which  pecu 
liarly  distinguished  the  cradle  of  our  republicanism.  Tar  and 
feathers  had  been  dispensed  with,  and  excepting  the  injury  he 
had  received  in  his  hand,  no  sort  of  violence  was  offered  by  the 
mob  to  their  victim.  But  to  a  man  of  high  spirit,  as  the  Doctor 
was,  the  indignity  in  its  lightest  form  was  sufficient  to  madden 
him :  it  probably  had  this  effect,  since  his  conduct  became  so  ex 
tremely  outrageous,  that  it  was  thought  necessary  to  confine  him. 
From  the  city  he  was  soon  after  removed  to  Carlisle,  where  he 
died  during  the  war. 

A  few  days  after  the  carting  of  Mr.  Kearsley,  Mr.  Isaac  Hunt, 
the  attorney,  was  treated  in  the  same  manner,  but  he  managed  the 
matter  much  better  than  his  precursor.  Instead  of  braving  his 
conductors  like  the  Doctor,  Mr.  Hunt  was  a  pattern  of  meekness 
and  humility ;  and  at  every  halt  that  wras  made,  he  rose  and  ex 
pressed  his  acknowledgments  to  the  crowd  for  their  forbearance 
and  civility.  After  a  parade  of  an  hour  or  two,  he  was  set  down 
at  his  own  door,  as  uninjured  in  body  as  in  mind.  He  soon  after 
removed  to  one  of  the  islands,  if  I  mistake  not,  to  Barbadoes, 
where,  it  was  understood,  he  took  orders.* 

Not  long  after  these  occurrences,  Major  Skene  of  the  British 
army,  ventured  to  show  himself  in  Philadelphia.!  Whatever 

*  He  did  take  orders,  and  upon  his  return  to  England,  became  a  tutor  in  the 
family  of  the  Duke  of  Chandos.  He  was  the  father  of  Mr.  Leigh  Hunt,  cele 
brated  for  his  poetic  genius,  and  for  many  valuable  contributions  to  English 
literature. — ED. 

t  We  are  gl  .d  not  to  lose  sight  of  this  truly  loyal  and  facetious  gentleman. 
In  the  Appendix  to  the  3d  volume  of  Sparks1  Life  and  Writings  of  Washington, 
is  the  following  notice  of  him  : 

"Major  Skene  had  been  appointed  Governor  of  Ticonderoga and  Crown  Point, 
and  empowered  to  raise  a  regiment  in  America.  On  this  ground  he  was  taken 
into  custody,  when  he  arrived  in  Philadelphia,  June,  1 775  ;  his  papers  were  ex- 
amined  by  order  of  Congress,  and  he  was  retained  as  a  prisoner.  He  had  been 


128  MAJOR  SKENE. 

might  have  been  his  inducement  to  the  measure,  it  was  deemed 
expedient  by  the  newly  constituted  authorities,  to  have  him 
arrested  and  secured.  A  guard  was  accordingly  placed  over  him 
at  his  lodgings,  at  the  city  tavern.  The  officer  to  whose  charge 
he.  was  especially  committed,  was  Mr.  Francis  Wade,  the  brewer, 
an  Irishman  of  distinguished  zeal  in  the  cause,  and  one  who  was 
supposed  to  possess  talents  peculiarly  befitting  him  for  the  task  of 
curbing  the  spirit  of  a  haughty  Briton,  which  Skene  undoubtedly 
was.  I  well  recollect  the  day  that  the  guard  was  paraded  to 
escort  him  out  of  the  city  on  his  way  to  some  other  station.  An 
immense  crowd  of  spectators  stood  before  the  door  of  his  quarters, 
and  lined  the  street  through  which  he  wras  to  pass.  The  weather 
being  warm,  the  window  sashes  of  his  apartment  were  raised,  and 
Skene,  with  his  bottle  of  wine  upon  the  table,  having  just  finished 
his  dinner,  roared  out  in  the  voice  of  a  Stentor,  "  God  save  great 
George  our  king!"  Had  the  spirit  of  seventy- five  in  any  degree 
resembled  the  spirit  of  Jacobinism,  to  which  it  has  been  unjustly 
compared,  this  bravado  would  unquestionably  have  brought  the 
Major  to  the  lamp-post,  and  set  his  head  upon  a  pike ;  but  as, 
fortunately  for  him,  it  did  not,  he  was  suffered  to  proceed  with 
his  song,  aud  the  auditory  seemed  more  generally  amused  than 
offended. 

many  years  in  the  army ;  was  an  ensign  at  Carthagena  and  Porto  Bello,  under 
General  Wentworth ;  he  served  in  Flanders ;  was  a  Lieutenant  at  the  battle  of 
Culloden;  served  under  Sir  Jeffrey  Amherst  in  Canada;  was  first  Major  of  Bri 
gade  at  the  conquest  of  Martinique  and  Havana,  at  which  latter  place  he  entered 
the  breach  when  it  was  stormed ;  was  often  wounded ;  was  appointed  to  run  a 
line  between  Canada  and  the  British  Colonies,  and  to  superintend  the  settlement 
of  the  border  country,  then  uninhabited;  and,  in  1773,  he  applied  to  Lord  Dart 
mouth  to  recommend  him  to  the  King  for  the  appointment  of  Governor  of  Ticon- 
deroga,  Crown  Point,  and  their  dependencies,  where  he,  at  that  time,  commanded 
a  corps  of  militia,  having  lands  and  a  residence  at  the  southern  extremity  of 
Lake  Champlain." — ED. 


CONGRESS.  129 


CHAPTER  V. 

Congress  Assembles.— Continental  Battalions.— State  of  Parties. — Mr.  Richard 
Penn. — His  Character. — Levy  of  Troops. — Officers. — Adventure. — Patriotism- 
— Recruiting. — 111  Success. — Discipline. — Author  sent  on  a  Mission. — Baron 
Woedtke. — Military  Preparations. — Road  to  Albany. — Saratoga. — Fort  Edward. 
— Lake  George.— General  Schuyler. — His  Character. — Author  returns  to  his 
Regiment. — Judge  Livingston. 

IN  the  spring  of  1775,  Congress  assembled  in  Philadelphia.  It 
was  in  every  respect  a  venerable  assembly ;  and  although  Penn 
sylvania  had  delegated  to  it  some  of  her  most  distinguished  cha 
racters,  they  were  supposed  to  be  eclipsed  by  the  superior  talents 
which  came  from  the  southward  and  eastward.  New  England 
had  sent  her  Adams's,  and  Virginia  her  Lee's  and  Henry's ;  all 
of  whom  were  spoken  of  as  men  of  the  first  rate  abilities.  Not 
long  after  the  organization  of  this  body,  their  president,  Peyton 
Randolph  of  Virginia,  died,  and  John  Hancock,  of  Boston,  was 
selected  to  supply  his  place.  Towards  the  close  of  the  year,  they 
passed  a  resolution  for  levying  some  continental  battalions,  four 
of  which  were  to  be  raised  in  Pennsylvania.  One  had  already 
been  raised  and  officered  by  the  province ;  but  as  the  applicants 
for  commissions  in  this,  were  not  of  my  set  of  acquaintance,  I  did 
not  apply.  Upon  the  promulgation,  however,  of  this  resolution 
of  Congress,  I  signified  to  the  committee  of  safety,  in  whom  the 
power  of  appointment  was  lodged,  and  of  which  body  my  uncle 
was  a  member,  my  wish  to  be  employed.  The  appointments 
were  made,  and  in  a  list  of  thirty-two  captains,  I  ranked  the  six 
teenth,  and  accordingly  received  my  commission  from  Congress, 
dated  January  the  6th,  1776.  Upon  this  nomination  of  the  com 
mittee  of  safety,  which  also  extended  to  all  the  inferior  commis 
sioned  officers,  the  field  officers,  who  had  already  been  assigned 


130 


CONTINENTAL  BATTALIONS. 


to  particular  battalions,  had  a  meeting  for  the  purpose  of  selecting 
their  captains  and  subalterns.  In  this  arrangement,  it  fell  to  my 
lot  to  be  attached  to  the  third  battalion,  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  John  Shee,  and  of  which  Mr.  Lambert  Cadwalader,  the 
younger  brother  of  Mr.  John  Cadwalader,  already  mentioned,  wras 
Lieutenant-Colonel.  It  appeared  to  have  been  the  primary  object 
of  these  gentlemen,  to  select  as  much  as  possible  their  officers 
from  the  city  and  its  neighbourhood,  of  whom  they  had  a  greater 
proportion  than  was  to  be  found  in  either  of  the  other  regiments, 
respectively  commanded  by  St.  Clair,  Wayne  and  Magaw.  But 
this  circumstance,  though  it  might  have  a  propitious  influence  on 
the  discipline  of  the  regiment  when  raised,  was  certainly  un 
favourable  to  the  business  of  recruiting,  since,  as  the  country  was 
chiefly  to  be  depended  upon  for  men,  country  officers  would  of 
course,  have  the  best  chance  of  obtaining  them. 

But  two  gentlemen  of  what  might  be  called  our  principal  fami 
lies,  had  come  forward  on  this  occasion.  These  were  Mr.  Cad 
walader,  and  Mr.  William  Allen,  who  was  appointed  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  of  the  regiment  of  St.  Clair :  so  that  of  four  sons,  the 
eldest  alone,  Mr.  John  Allen,  was  an  acknowledged  disapprover 
of  our  proceedings.  The  father,  too  old  to  be  active,  was  yet 
supposed  to  lean  to  the  whig  side.  It  would  appear,  however, 
from  the  sequel,  that  this  family  were  either  never  cordial  in  the 
cause,  or  that  they  had  inconsiderately  imagined  that  its  object 
might  be  obtained  by  a  resolute  show  of  resistance,  merely ;  since 
upon  the  adoption  of  the  measure  of  independence,  all  the  sons, 
excepting  James,  joined  General  Howe  in  New  York.  He  re 
mained  at  home,  and  took  his  chance  with  his  native  country, 
though  wholly  inactive.  I  remember  once  seeing  him  on  New 
York  island,  towards  the  close  of  the  summer  of  1776,  where  he 
probably  came  to  see  how  the  land  lay.  But  he  was  then  in 
declining  health,  and  in  somewhat  more  than  a  year  after,  was 
relieved  from  all  sublunary  solicitudes ;  as  was  his  father  also, 
before  the  close  of  the  war.  The  revolution  was  fatal  to  this 
family,  precipitating  it  from  the  very  pinnacle  of  importance  in 
Pennsylvania,  down  to  the  lowest  depth  of  insignificance  with 
both  parties.  Its  early  whigism  had  perhaps  as  much  disgusted 
the  tories,  as  its  final  defection  had  exasperated  the  whigs ;  and 


RICHARD  PENN ANECDOTE.  131 

the  British  army,  though  it  yielded  it  protection,  afforded  it  little 
of  respect.  Mr.  William  Allen  endeavoured  to  recover  his  con 
sequence  by  raising,  or  endeavouring  to  raise,  a  regiment  on  the 
royal  side  in  Philadelphia  in  the  year  1778,  very  pompously 
heading  his  recruiting  advertisement  with  the  words,  nil  desperan- 
dum  Teucro  duce,  et  auspice  Teucro.  It  is  to  be  presumed,  how 
ever,  that  this  swaggering  motto  referred  to  General  Howe,  and 
not  to  himself. 

Nor,  in  adverting  to  the  mutability  of  human  affairs,  can  wre 
overlook  the  unfavourable  tendency  of  the  contest  to  the  proprie 
tary  family.  Both  the  brothers,  John  and  Richard  Penn,  had  been 
governors  of  Pennsylvania ;  the  former  being  in  office  at  the  be 
ginning  of  hostilities.  By  yielding  to  the  torrent,  which  it  would 
have  been  impossible  to  withstand,  he  gave  no  offence,  and  avoided 
reproach ;  though  it  was  deemed  expedient  to  have  him  secured 
and  removed  from  Philadelphia,  on  the  approach  of  the  royal  army 
in  the  year  1777.  Mr.  Richard  Penn,  having  no  official  motives 
for  reserve,  was  even  upon  terms  of  familiarity  with  some  of  the 
most  thorough-going  whigs,  such  as  General  Lee  and  others :  An 
evidence  of  this  was  the  pleasantry  ascribed  to  him,  on  occasion 
of  a  member  of  Congress,  one  day  observing  to  his  compatriots, 
that  at  all  events  "they  must  hang  together:"  "If  you  do  not, 
gentlemen,"  said  Mr.  Penn,  "I  can  tell  you  that  you  will  be  very 
apt  to  hang  separately."4 

Of  all  the  governors  of  Pennsylvania  under  the  old  regime,  he 
was  probably  the  most  popular,  though  his  popularity  might  not 
have  been  precisely  of  the  kind  which  irradiates  a  favourite  of  the 
present  day.  It  was,  it  must  be  confessed,  a  good  deal  confined 
to  the  city ;  and  perhaps  rather  much  to  that  description  of  per 
sons,  who  are  not  the  chosen  people  of  Virginian  republicanism. 

*  This  witticism  is  claimed  for  Franklin  by  Sparks,  who  thus  relates  it  in  his 
Life  of  Franklin,  page  408.  It  was  at  the  signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence. 

"We  must  be  unanimous,"  said  Hancock;  "there  must  be  no  pulling  different 
ways  ;  we  must  all  hang  together."  "  Yes,"  replied  Franklin,  "we  must,  indeed, 
all  hang  together,  or  most  assuredly  we  shall  all  hang  separately." 

It  has  been  ascribed  also  to  Mr.  John  Penn,  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence,  and  a  member  of  Congress  from  North  Carolina.  Who 
shall  settle  the  knotty  point! — ED. 


132  OFFICERS. 

But  it  was  such  as  was  then  in  fashion,  and  good  and  substantial 
enough  for  those  who  knew  no  better.  It  required,  however, 
fewer  sacrifices ;  and  might  yield  possibly  as  much  pleasure  on 
retrospection,  as  that  enjoyed  by  the  most  idolized  of  our  demo 
cratic  worthies.* 

Against  the  expected  hostilities,  Pennsylvania  had  made  im 
mense  exertions.  Prior  to  the  four  regiments  of  St.  Clair,  Shee, 
Wayne  and  Magaw,  that  of  De  Haas,  and  Hand's  rifle  regiment, 
were  already  raised  and  equipped ;  and  afterwards,  Irvine's,  and 
two  provincial  battalions,  respectively  commanded  by  Miles  and 
Atlee,  in  the  whole,  nine  regiments,  complete  and  very  reputably 
officered.  Had  all  the  other  provinces  done  as  much  in  proportion 
to  their  ability,  and  the  men  been  enlisted  for  the  war,  we  might 
have  avoided  the  hair-breadth  'scapes  which  ensued. 

To  return  to  smaller  concerns.  An  anxiety  little  inferior  to  that 
of  the  colonels,  in  procuring  what  they  thought  good  officers  for 
their  regiments,  at  this  time,  agitated  the  commanders  of  com 
panies,  in  respect  to  the  subalterns  that  should  be  assigned  them. 
My  second  lieutenant,  Mr.  Forrest, f  who  had  served  his  appren 
ticeship  to  an  apothecary  in  Philadelphia,  I  well  knew  to  be  active, 
capable,  and  more  than  commonly  adroit  in  the  military  exercises ; 
but  my  first  lieutenant,  I  had  not  yet  seen.  I  was  not,  however, 
long  in  the  dark,  and  when  he  appeared,  I  cannot  say  that  his 
exterior  was  the  most  prepossessing ;  or  that  it  announced  those 
qualities  we  at  first  look  for  in  the  soldier.  He  was  tall,  extremely 
thin,  and  somewhat  lounging  in  his  appearance  ;  and  to  add  to  its 
uncouthness,  he  wore  an  enormous  fur  cap.  Colonel  Shee  used 


*  Richard  Pcnn  was  the  brother  of  John  Penn,  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  at 
the  commencement  of  hostilities.  He  is  described  in  Watson's  Annals,  as  "  a 
fine  portly  looking  man, — a  bon  rivant,  very  popular.  He  died  in  England  in 
1811,  at  the  age  of  77  years. — ED. 

t  Subsequently  known  as  Colonel  Forrest,  and  distinguished  for  zeal  and  ac 
tivity  during  the  revolution.  He  was  in  several  engagements,  and  had  the  cha 
racter  of  being  a  brave  and  skilful  officer.  After  the  war  he  resided  at  German- 
town,  where  his  opinions  underwent  a  remarkable  change.  He  attached  himself 
to  the  society  of  Quakers,  adopting  their  language  and  garb.  He  was  a  man 
of  considerable  humour,  and  of  manners  agreeable  to  the  "sovereign  people,"  who, 
in  1815,  elected  him  to  Congress.  He  died  in  the  year  1826,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
three  years. — ED. 


RECRUITING  ADVENTURE.  133 

to  describe  somewhat  humourously,  his  first  impression  upon  him  ; 
and  when  he  was  first  seen  by  a  little  Scotch  servant  boy  of  my 
mother's,  who  afterwards  became  my  drummer,  he  emphatically 
exclaimed :  Well,  sic  an  a  spindle !  Yet  for  all  this,  any  man 
might  have  thought  himself  honoured  in  having  Mr.  Edwards  for 
his  lieutenant.  Though  born  in  Pennsylvania,  he  was  recent  from 
a  college  in  Rhode  Island.  Possessing  good  sense,  a  remarkable 
aptitude  to  take  a  polish,  and  talents  to  recommend  himself  to  his 
superiors  in  command,  he  soon  obtained  the  favour  of  the  colonels 
of  the  regiment,  with  whom  he  was  upon  a  very  familiar  footing. 
He  was,  besides,  a  man  of  courage ;  and  in  the  course  of  the  war, 
became  the  aid- de-camp  and  particular  friend  of  General  Lee  ;  so 
much  so,  that  he  was  one  of  the  principal  devisees  in  the  will  of 
that  officer.  Of  my  ensign,  it  will  be  enough  to  say,  that  he  was 
a  plain  and  unaspiring  man,  who,  in  the  walk  of  humble  duty, 
"kept  the  noiseless  tenor  of  his  way." 

The  object  now  was  to  raise  my  company,  and  as  the  streets  of 
the  city  had  been  pretty  well  swept  by  the  preceding  and  contempo 
rary  levies,  it  was  necessary  to  have  recourse  to  the  country.  My 
recruiting  party  was  therefore  sent  out  in  various  directions ;  and 
each  of  my  officers  as  well  as  myself,  exerted  himself  in  the  busi 
ness.  Among  the  many  unpleasant  peculiarities  of  the  American 
service,  it  was  not  the  least  that  the  drudgery,  which  in  old  mili 
tary  establishments  belong  to  sergeants  and  corporals,  here  de 
volved  on  the  commissioned  officers ;  and  that  the  whole  business 
of  recruiting,  drilling,  &c.,  required  their  unremitted  personal  at 
tention.  This  was  more  emphatically  the  case  in  recruiting ;  since 
the  common  opinion  was,  that  the  men  and  the  officers  were  never 
to  be  separated,  and  hence,  to  see  the  persons  who  were  to  com 
mand  them,  and  above  all,  the  captain,  was  deemed  of  vast  im 
portance  by  those  inclining  to  enlist :  for  this  reason  I  found  it 
necessary,  in  common  with  my  brother  officers,  to  put  my  feelings 
most  cruelly  to  the  rack ;  and  in  an  excursion  I  once  made  to 
Frankford,  they  were  tried  to  the  utmost.  A  number  of  fellows 
at  the  tavern,  at  which  my  party  rendezvoused,  indicated  a  desire 
to  enlist,  but  although  they  drank  freely  of  our  liquor,  they  still 
held  off.  I  soon  perceived  that  the  object  was  to  amuse  them 
selves  at  our  expense,  and  that  if  there  might  be  one  or  two  among 
12 


134  PATRIOTISM. 

them  really  disposed  to  engage,  the  others  would  prevent  them. 
One  fellow  in  particular,  who  had  made  the  greatest  show  of 
taking  the  bounty,  presuming  on  the  weakness  of  our  party,  con 
sisting  only  of  a  drummer,  corporal,  my  second  lieutenant  and 
myself,  began  to  grow  insolent,  and  manifested  an  intention  to 
begin  a  quarrel,  in  the  issue  of  which,  he  no  doubt  calculated  on 
giving  us  a  drubbing.  The  disgrace  of  such  a  circumstance,  pre 
sented  itself  to  my  mind  in  colours  the  most  dismal,  and  I  re 
solved,  that  if  a  scuffle  should  be  unavoidable,  it  should,  at  least, 
be  as  serious  as  the  hangers  which  my  lieutenant  and  myself  car 
ried  by'our  sides,  could  make  it.  Our  endeavour,  however,  was 
to  guard  against  a  contest ;  but  the  moderation  we  testified,  was 
attributed  to  fear.  At  length  the  arrogance  of  the  principal  ruffian, 
rose  to  such  a  height,  that  he  squared  himself  for  battle  and  ad 
vanced  towards  me  in  an  attitude  of  defiance.  I  put  him  by,  with 
an  admonition  to  be  quiet,  though  with  a  secret  determination,  that, 
if  he  repeated  the  insult  to  begin  the  war,  whatever  might  be  the 
consequence.  The  occasion  was  soon  presented ;  when  taking 
excellent  aim,  I  struck  him  with  my  utmost  force  between  the 
eyes  and  sent  him  staggering  to  the  other  end  of  the  room.  Then 
instantly  drawing  our  hangers,  and  receiving  the  manful  co-opera 
tion  of  the  corporal  and  drummer,  we  were  fortunate  enough  to 
put  a  stop  to  any  farther  hostilities.  It  was  some  time  before  the 
fellow  I  had  struck,  recovered  from  the  blow,  but  when  he  did, 
he  was  quite  an  altered  man.  He  was  as  submissive  as  could  be 
wished,  begging  my  pardon  for  what  he  had  done,  and  although 
he  would  not  enlist,  he  hired  himself  to  me  for  a  few  weeks  as  a 
fifer,  in  which  capacity  he  had  acted  in  the  militia ;  and  during 
the  time  he  was  in  this  employ,  he  bore  about  the  effects  of  his 
insolence,  in  a  pair  of  black  eyes.  This  incident  would  be  little 
worthy  of  relating,  did  it  not  serve  in  some  degree  to  correct  the 
error  of  those  who  seem  to  conceive  the  year  1776  to  have  been  a 
season  of  almost  universal  patriotic  enthusiasm.  It  was  far  from 
prevalent  in  my  opinion,  among  the  lower  ranks  of  the  people,  at 
least  in  Pennsylvania.  At  all  times,  indeed,  licentious,  levelling 
principles  are  much  to  the  general  taste,  and  were  of  course  popu 
lar  with  us ;  but  the  true  merits  of  the  contest,  were  little  under 
stood  or  regarded.  The  opposition  to  the  claims  of  Britain  origi- 


RECRUITING.  135 

nated  with  the  better  sort :  it  was  truly  aristocratic  in  its  com 
mencement;  and  as  the  oppression  to  be  apprehended,  had  not 
been  felt,  no  grounds  existed  for  general  enthusiasm.  The  cause 
of  liberty,  it  is  true,  was  fashionable,  and  there  were  great  prepara 
tions  to  fight  for  it ;  but  a  zeal  proportioned  to  the  magnitude  of 
the  question,  was  only  to  be  looked  for  in  the  minds  of  those 
sagacious  politicians,  who  inferred  effects  from  causes,  and  who, 
as  Mr.  Burke  expresses  it,  "snuffed  the  approach  of  tyranny  in 
every  tainted  breeze."4 

Certain  it  was,  at  least,  that  recruiting  went  on  but  heavily. 
Some  officers  had  been  more  successful  than  others,  but  none  of 
the  companies- were  complete;  mine  perhaps  contained  about 
half  its  complement  of  men,  and  these  had  been  obtained  by 
dint  of  great  exertion.  In  this  situation,  Captain  Lenox  of  Shee's 
regiment  also,  suggested  the  trying  our  luck  on  the  eastern  shore 
of  Maryland,  particularly  at  Chester,  situated  on  the  river  of  that 
name.  It  having  been  a  place  of  some  trade,  it  wras  supposed 
there  might  be  seamen  or  long  shore  men  there,  out  of  employ. 
We  accordingly  set  out  on  the  expedition,  making  our  first  effort 
at  Warwick,  an  inconsiderable  village,  a  few  miles  within  the 
boundaries  of  Maryland.  Here  we  remained  a  day  or  two,  our 
stay  having  been  prolonged  by  bad  weather.  At  the  tavern  we 
put  up  at,  we  made  acquaintance  with  a  gentleman  of  note,  who 
resided  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  pretty  generally  known  by  the 
familiar  name  of  Dan  Heath.  He  seemed  to  like  our  company, 
as  he  was  continually  with  us  while  we  staid.  Mr.  Heath  was  a 
sportsman,  and  apparently  too  little  interested  in  political  con 
cerns,  to  be  either  much  of  a  whig  or  a  tory,  though  from  the  in 
difference  he  evinced,  we  rather  concluded  him  the  latter.  He 
helped  us,  however,  to  recruit,  a  fellow,  he  said,  who  would  do 
to  stop  a  bullet  as  well  as  a  better  man,  and  as  he  was  a  truly  worth- 

"  The  American  Revolution  is,  universally,  admitted  to  have  begun  in  the 
upper  circles  of  society.  It  turned  on  principles  too  remote  and  abstruse  for  vul 
gar  apprehension  or  consideration.  Had  it  depended  on  the  unenlightened  mass 
of  the  community,  no  doubt  can  be  entertained,  that  the  tax  imposed  by  parlia 
ment,  would  have  been  paid  without  a  question.  Since,  then,  the  upper  circle  of 
society  did  not  take  its  impulse  from  the  people,  the  only  remaining  inquiry  is 
who  gave  the  Revolutionary  impulse  to  that  circle  itself?  It  was  unquestionably 
PATRICK  HENRY."—  WirVs  Life  of  Henry.— ED. 


136  RECRUITING. 

less  dog,  he  held,  that  the  neighbourhood  would  be  much  in 
debted  to  us  for  taking  him  away.  When  we  left  Warwick,  he 
fulfilled  his  promise  of  accompanying  us  some  miles  under  pre 
tence  of  aiding  us  in  getting  men,  but  as  he  showed  us  none, 
we  were  convinced  that  he  attended  us  more  for  his  own  sake 
than*  ours,  and  that  having  nothing  to  do,  probably,  he  had  availed 
himself  the  opportunity  to  kill  a  little  time.  He  gave  the  tone  to 
the  conversation  on  the  road,  which  generally  turned  on  the 
sports  of  the  turf  and  the  cockpit ;  but  he  never  spoke  with  so 
much  animation,  as  when  expatiating  on  those  feats  of  human 
prowess,  wherein  victory  is  achieved  by  tooth  and  nail,  in  modern 
phrase,  by  biting  and  gouging :  and  pointing  out  to  us  one  of  the 
heroes  of  these  direful  conflicts  :  "  There,"  says  he,  "  is  a  fellow 
that  has  not  his  match  in  the  country :  see  what  a  set  of  teeth  he 
lias,  a  man's  thumb  would  be  nothing  to  them." 

On  bidding  good  morning  to  Mr.  Heath,  with  whose  vivacity 
we  were  amused,  we  pursued  our  course  to  Chester,  and  as  soon 
as  we  arrived  there,  delivered  our  letters  of  introduction.  The 
gentlemen  to  wham  they  were  addressed,  received  us  with  the 
utmost  politeness,  and  declared  their  warmest  wishes  for  the 
success  of  our  errand,  though  accompanied  with  expressions  of 
regret,  that  they  could  not  give  us  encouragement  to  beat  up 
in  their  town,  as  well  because  there  were  few,  if  any,  in  it,  that 
were  likely  to  enlist,  as  that  their  own  province  was  about 
raising  troops ;  and  as  that  was  the  case,  it  would  not  be  taken 
well  should  they  assist  in  transferring  any  of  their  men  to  the 
line  of  Pennsylvania.  With  such  unfavourable  prospects  in 
Maryland,  it  would  have  been  folly  to  have  proceeded  far 
ther:  we  therefore,  set  off  on  our  way  home  the  next  morning, 
declining  several  invitations  to  dinner.  We  found  this  country 
well  deserving  of  its  reputation  for  hospitality.  Between  War 
wick  and  Georgetown,  we  were  taken  home  to  lodge  by  a  gen 
tleman  of  the  name  of  Wilmer,  whom  we  had  never  seen  be 
fore  :  We  were  warmly  pressed  by  Mr.  Harry  Pierce,  with  whom 
we  met  by  accident  on  the  road,  to  spend  some  time  with  him 
at  his  residence  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  met  with  no  less  cor 
diality,  from  Mr.  Thomas  Ringold,  of  Chester,  who  had  once 
when  very  young,  lodged  at  my  mother's.  Returning  by  War- 


137 

t 

wick,  we  sent  forward  our  solitary  recruit,  for  whom  we  tossed 
up;  and  in  winning,  I  was,  in  fact,  but  a  very  small  gainer, 
since  his  merits  had  been  set  at  their  full  value  by  Mr.  Heath  ; 
and  he  was  never  fit  for  any  thing  better  than  the  inglorious  post 
of  camp  colour  man. 

After  this  unsuccessful  jaunt,  I  bent  my  course  to  the  Four-lane 
ends,  Newtown,  and  Corryell's  ferry  ;  thence  passing  into  Jersey, 
I  proceeded  to  the  Hickory  tavern,  to  Pittstown,  Baptisttown, 
Flemmingtown,  and  other  towns,  whose  names  I  do  not  remem 
ber.  As  Captain  Stewart  (the  late  General  Walter  Stewart)  of 
our  regiment,  had  recently  reapt  this  field,  I  was  only  a  gleaner: 
In  the  whole  of  my  tour,  therefore,  I  picked  up  but  three  or  four 
men:  and  could  most  sincerely  have  said, 

That  the  recruiting1  trade,,  with  all  its  train, 
Of  endless  care,  fatigue,  and  endless  pain, 

I  could  most  gladly  have  renounced,  even  without  the  very  pre 
ferable  alternative  of  Cap-tain  Plume.  My  number  of  privates 
might  now  have  amounted  to  about  forty,  but  these  were  soon 
augmented  by  the  noble  addition  of  one  and  twenty  stout  native 
Americans,  brought  by  Lieutenants  Edwards  and  Forrest  from. 
Egg  Harbour. 

Towards  spring,  our  battalion  was  complete ;  and  already, 
from  the  unremitted  attention  that  had  been  paid  to  it  by  the  of 
ficers  of  every  grade,  it  had  made,  for  so-  short  a  time,  a  very 
laudable  progress  in  discipline.  Besides  partial  drillings  it  was. 
exercised  every  morning  and  evening;  and  what  was  of  still 
more  importance,  habits  of  obedience  and  subordination  were 
strictly  inculcated  and  maintained.  We  were  comparatively 
well  armed,  uniformed  and  equipped  ;  and  it  is  but  justice  to 
say,  that  in  point  of  all  the  exteriors,  by  which  military  corps  are 
tested,  ours  was  on  a  footing  with  the  most  promising  on  the  con 
tinent.  We  were  quartered  in  the  barracks,  together  with  the 
other  battalions  that  were  raising ;  and  bv  way  of  counteracting 
the  general  gloom,  not  diminished  by  the  practice  of  fast-days 
and  sermons,  borrowed  from  New  England,  we  promoted  balls 
and  other  amusement.  Had  the  contest  been  a  religious  one, 
and  our  people  been  inflamed  by  a  zeal  on  points  of  faith  like 

12* 


138 


AUTHOR  SENT  ON  A  MISSION. 


the  Crusaders  or  the  army  of  Cromwell,  this  might  have  been 
the  proper  method  of  exciting  them  to  acts  of  heroism;  but  they 
were  to  be  taken  as  they  were,  and  as  this  was  not  the  case,  it 
was  certainly  not  the  mode  to  make  soldiers  in  Pennsylvania. 
The  puritanical  spirit  was  unknown  among  us;  and  the  endea 
vour  to  promote  it,  did  but  conflict  with  other  propensities  on 
which  a  military  ardour  might  be  engrafted.  It  might,  how 
ever,  have  been  wholly  different  in  New  England;  but  whether 
so  or  not,  General  Lee,  with  his  usual  profaneness,  treated  their 
solemnities  with  ridicule,  telling  them,  in  the  spirit  of  the  ancient 
fable  of  Hercules  and  the  wagoner,  that  Heaven  was  ever  found 
*  favourable  to  strong  battalions. 

About  the  close  of  the  month  of  May,  I  was  appointed  to  carry 
a  sum  of  money  in  specie  to  General  Schuyler  at  Lake  George, 
for  the  purpose  of  promoting  the  operations  in  Canada ;  and  I 
owed  my  nomination  to  this  service  to  the  friendly  intentions  of 
President  Hancock,  who  had  particularly  designated  me.  Ensign 
Stout  was  the  officer  assigned  by  Colonel  Shee  to  accompany  me.* 
We  accordingly  set  out  in  a  chair,  that  being  thought  the  most 
convenient  mode  of  carrying  the  money,  which  was  enclosed  in 
two  or  three  sealed  bags.  One  soldier  mounted  and  armed  in 
addition,  constituted  the  escort;  and  we  were  furnished  with 
credentials  for  obtaining  fresh  horses  as  often  as  they  might  be 
necessary.  To  see  the  country  between  New  York  and  the  Lake, 
which  was  entirely  new  both  to  my  companion  and  myself,  was 
highly  agreeable ;  but  we  did  not  so  well  like  the  responsibility 
of  our  charge.  It  is  obvious  that  it  might  have  been  wrested  from 
us,  without  great  difficulty,  even  though  each  one  of  the  triumvi 
rate  had  possessed  the  bravery  of  Caesar.  Hence,  policy  dictated 

*  Colonel  John  Shee.  He  was,.  I  think,  from  Lancaster  county.  He  had  the 
confidence  of  WASHINGTON,  who,  in  a  letter  to  the  President  of  Congress,  of  10th 
June,  1776,  says,  "to  Congress  I  submit  the  propriety  of  keeping  the  two  Continental 
battalions,  under  Colonels  Shee  and  Magaw,  at  Philadelphia,  where  there  is  the 
greatest  probability  of  a  speedy  attack  upon  this  place  from  the  King's  troops." 

It  will  be  seen,  hereafter,  that,  having  obtained  leave  of  absence  to  visit  his 
family,  he  "  converted  that  leave  into  an  entire  abdication  of  his  command."  An 
extraordinary  procedure,  certainly,  on  the  part  of  an  officer  who  had  proved  his 
capacity  and  zeal,  and  who  had  enjoyed,  in  a  high  degree,  the  confidence  and 
of  his  superiors.. — EP,, 


BARON  WOEDTKE.  139 

the  concealment  of  the  treasure,  so  far  as  might  consist  with  the 
requisite  vigilance.  At  Princeton,  where  we  dined  on  the  second 
day  of  our  journey,  we  thought  proper  to  have  our  bags  brought 
into  our  room.  The  inn-keeper,  like  the  generality  of  his  profes 
sion,  was  loquacious  and  inquisitive;  and  being  an  extremely 
good  whig  into  the  bargain,  took  the  liberty  of  sounding  us  re 
specting  the  contents  of  our  bags,  of  which  he  had  formed  a  very- 
shrewd  guess.  We  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  deny  that  they 
contained  money,  or  to  conceal  from  him  the  object  of  our  mis 
sion,  which  he  was  equally  desirous  of  knowing.  Upon  learning 
that  the  destination  was  Canada,  he  entered  into  a  dissertation 
upon  our  affairs  in  that  quarter,  telling  us  among  other  things, 
that  the  Prussian  General,  the  Baron  Woedkie,  had  been  a  few 
days  before  at  his  house,  on  his  way  to  that  country.  But  he 
reprobated  the  Baron  in  very  hard  terms,  repeatedly  exclaiming 
with  a  most  significant  emphasis,  that  he  was  no  general ;  and  in 
the  sequel,  favouring  us  with  his  reasons  for  this  opinion,  gave  us 
to  understand,  that  he  (the  Baron)  had  made  his  servant  grease 
with  a  feather  a  certain  part,  to  which  he  gave  its  very  coarsest 
appellation,  that  had  suffered  from  the  friction  of  riding.  Whe 
ther  our  host  had  become  acquainted  with  this  circumstance  by 
looking  through  a  key-hole,  or  by  what  other  means,  we  were  not 
informed,  but  its  unlucky  effect  upon  him,  convinced  me  of  the 
justness  of  the  observation,  that  no  man  is  a  hero  to  his  valet  de 
chambre.  This  same  Baron  it  was,  who,  finding  liberty,  one  day, 
the  impassioned  theme  of  some  members  of  Congress  and  others, 
exclaimed — ./?/?,  liberdyis  a  fine  ding;  I  likes  liber  dy ;  der  koenig 
von  Prusse  is  a  great  man  for  liber  dy  !  and  so  no  doubt  he  was, 
for  his  own  liberty  or  importance  as  a  member  of  the  Germanic 
body;  and  it  might  puzzle  many  a  flaming  demagogue  to  show  a 
better  title  to  the  character.* 

*  The  honest  Baron,  however,  was  not  more  absurd  than  was  the  sticklers  for 
Bonaparte,  who  always  connected  liberty  with  his  name  and  views,  as  the  same 
men  did  those  of  Robespierre,  when  riding  at  the  top  of  the  revolutionary  wheel. 
With  them  liberty  appeared  to  mean  hostility  to  all  regular,  legitimate  govern, 
ment;  which,  in  the  same  vocabulary  signifies  tyranny.  New  power  creates 
new  men,  ergo,  the  devotion  to  it  of  all  ambitious  insignificants. 

BRIGADIER.GEXERAL  THE  BARON  DE  WOEDTKE.— WILKINSON  in  his  Mnnoirs 
gives  some  account  of  this  Prussian  officer ;  but  it  is,  by  no  means,  flattering. 


140  NEW  YORK MILITARY  PREPARATIONS.  . 

But  notwithstanding  this  requisite  for  our  service,  evinced  by 
the  Baron's  love  of  liberty,  I  believe  he  did  not  very  well  suit  us ; 
and  that  although  The  Prussian  General  made  a  great  noise  upon 
his  first  appearance,  the  public  mind  in  respect  to  him,  whether 
correct  or  not,  pretty  well  accorded  with  that  of  our  host,  who,  at 
parting  with  us,  expressed  much  anxiety  for  our  safety  and  that 
of  our  charge,  recommending  to  us  in  future,  not  to  take  our  bags 
out  of  the  chair,  where  we  breakfasted  and  dined.  The  propriety 
of  this  advice  we  were  aware  of,  and  observed  it  where  practica 
ble  ;  that  is,  where  the  treasure  was  sufficiently  under  our  eyes 
without  removal. 

At  New  York,  we  spent  about  an  hour  in  a  slight  survey  of  the 
barricades^  which  General  Lee  had  caused  to  be  thrown  across 
some  of  the  streets  ;  and  on  our  way  out  of  town,  fell  in  with 
a  New  England  regiment  at  exercise.  Its  commander  was  ex 
tremely  busy,  in  instructing  his  troops  in  street  firing,  at  that  day, 
our  most  favourite  manoeuvre ;  as  we  simply  supposed  that  all 
our  great  battles  were  to  be  fought  in  our  cities.  We  surveyed 
these  men  with  all  the  respect  that  was  due  to  the  great  military 
reputation  of  their  country;  but,  we  were  obliged  to  confess, 
that  they  did  not  entirely  come  up  to  the  ideas  we  had  formed 
of  the  heroes  of  Lexington  and  Bunker's  hill.  This,  we  took 
to  be  a  militia  corps,  from  the  circumstance  of  its  not  being  a 

He  had  been  sent  with  instructions  to  the  Baron,,  to  detach  500  men,,  to  cover 
General  Arnold's  retreat  from  Montreal.  In  his  search  for  the  Baron,  he  en 
countered  difficulties  and  hardships,  which  are  graphically  described:  "After  a 
night's  rest  in  a  filthy  cabin,  I  resumed  my  march,  and  the  first  officer  of  my 
acquaintance  whom  I  met,  was  Lieutenant-Colonel  William  Allen,  of  the  second 
Pennsylvania  regiment,  who,  to  my  inquiry  for  De  Woedtke,  replied,  he  had  'no 
doubt  the  beast  was  drunk,  and  in  front  of  the  army.1  I  then  informed  him  of  my 
orders  for  a  detachment.  His  reply  was  remarkable  :  'This  army,  Wilkinson,  is 
conquered  by  its  fears,  and  I  doubt  whether  you  can  draw  any  assistance  from 
it;  but  Colonel  Wayne  is  in  the  rear,  and  if  any  one  can  do  it,  he  is  the  man.' 
On  this  I  quickened  my  pace,  and  half  an  hour  after  met  that  gallant  soldier,  as 
much  at  his  ease  as  if  he  was  marching  to  a  parade  of  exercise ;  he  confirmed 
Allen's  report  respecting  De  Woedtke,  and  without  hesitation  determined  to  exe 
cute  the  order." 

"  The  Baron,"  says  Sparks,  "  had  been  for  many  years  an  officer  in  the  army 
of  the  King  of  Prussia,  and  had  risen  to  the  rank  of  Major.  Coming  to  Phila 
delphia  with  strong  letters  of  recommendation  to  Dr.  Franklin  from  persons  of 
eminence  in  Paris,  he  was  appointed  by  Congress  a  Brigadier-General.  He  died 
at  Lake  George  in  the  summer  of  1776.''- — ED. 


SARATOGA CANADA  COMMISSIONERS.  141 

whit  superior,  in  any  visible  respect,  to  the  worst  of  ours.  How 
ever,  thought  we,  these  men  may  nevertheless  have  some  knack 
at  fighting,  which  only  discloses  itself  in  the  moment  of  action. 

After  leaving  New  York,  we  passed  through  a  number  of 
villages  between  that  city  and  Albany ;  but  these,  of  which  the 
almanacs  will  give  a  much  more  accurate  account  than  I  can,  I 
shall  neither  undertake  to  name  or  locate.  Poughkeepsie,  how 
ever,  must  be  excepted  ;  as  here  we  quartered  for  a  night,  under 
the  hospitable  roof  of  old  Doctor  Baird,  so  called  to  distinguish 
him  from  his  son  of  the  same  profession.  The  doctor  was  a  re 
lation  of  Mr.  Stout's,  and  on  my  being  made  known  to  him,  I  had 
the  satisfaction  to  find  that  he  had  formerly  been  acquainted  with 
both  my  father  and  mother,  of  whom  he  spoke  in  the  warmest 
and  most  friendly  terms.  My  mother,  he  was  pleased  to  say,  he 
remembered,  the  finest  girl  in  Philadelphia ;  and  that  she  had  the 
manners  of  a  lady  bred  at  a  court.  The  old  gentleman  wras  one 
of  those  who  went  under  the  denomination  of  tories ;  but  if  it 
was  justly  applied,  he  possessed  too  much  liberality  to  permit  his 
politics,  in  any  degree,  to  interfere  with  the  duties  of  hospitality. 
He  considered  us  probably  as  young  men,  deluded  but  not  sedi 
tious  ;  as  accessary  to,  but  not  responsible  for,  the  calamities 
which  were  about  to  befal  the  country;  and  in  addition  to  a  good 
supper,  entertained  us  with  the  military  exploits  of  the  Duke  of 
Marlborough,  who  appeared  to  be  his  favourite  hero. 

In  the  morning  betimes  we  pursued  our  journey,  and  in  the 
course  of  it,  reached  Albany  about  noon.  Here  we  dined  with  a 
gentleman  in  regimentals  bearing  the  title  of  major ;  though  I  do 
not  either  recollect  his  name,  or  the  corps  to  which  he  belonged, 
if  indeed  he  belonged  to  any,  for  majors  and  captains  had  by  this 
time,  become  very  good  travelling  appellations.  He  had  just  re 
turned  from  Canada,  and  drew  a  most  lamentable  picture  of  our 
affairs  in  that  country,  descanting  upon  men  and  things  with  equal 
freedom  and  satire.  He  delivered  himself  with  unusual  flip 
pancy  ;  and  wound  up  a  very  animated  philippic  upon  our  mili 
tary  operations  in  that  quarter,  with  an,  "  in  short,  gentlemen,  we 
have  commissaries  there  without  provisions ;  quarter-masters  with 
out  stores ;  generals  without  troops ;  and  troops  without  discipline, 
by  G— d." 


142  LAKE  GEORGE. 

Leaving  Albany,  we  passed  by  Stillwater,  Saratoga,  and  other 
places,  which  have  since  acquired  interest  from  the  defeat  and 
surrender  of  General  Burgoyne  and  his  army.  Near  to  Fort  Ed 
ward  we  met  Doctor  Franklin,  Mr.  Carroll,  and  (I  think)  Mr. 
Chase,  returning  from  Canada,  to  which  they  had  been  deputed 
commissioners  from  Congress.*  We  delivered  them  a  letter  from 
that  body,  as  we  had  been  enjoined  to  do  in  case  of  meeting 
them,  as  also  to  take  their  orders  in  respect  to  our  ulterior  pro 
ceedings  :  As  they  made  no  change  in  our  destination,  we  went 
on.  Immediately  beyond  Fort  Edward,  the  country  assumed  a 
dreary,  cheerless  -aspect.  Between  this  and  lake  George,  a  dis 
tance  of  about  twelve  miles,  it  was  almost  an  entire  wood,  ac 
quiring  a  deeper  gloom,  as  well  from  the  general  prevalence  of 
pines,  as  from  its  dark,  extended  covert  being  presented  to  the 
imagination  as  an  appropriate  scene  for  the  "treasons,  stratagems 
and  spoils"  of  savage  hostility ;  to  which  purpose,  it  had  been  de 
voted  in  former  days  of  deadly  dissension.  It  was  in  this  tract 
of  country  that  several  actions  had  been  fought ;  that  Baron  Dies- 
kau  had  been  defeated ;  and  that  American  blood  had  flowed,  as 
well  as  English  and  French ;  in  commemoration  of  which,  the 

*  The  commissioners  were  Dr.  Franklin,  Samuel  Chase,  and  Charles  Carroll 
of  Carrollton,  all  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence ;  and  the  Reverend 
John  Carroll,  afterwards  Romish  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  whose  religious  pro- 
fession  and  character,  and  French  education  peculiarly  fitted  him,  it  was  sup 
posed,  "to  exercise  a  salutary  influence  with  the  priests  in  Canada,  who  were 
known  to  control  the  people."  Mr.  Chase  was  greatly  distinguished  by  his 
eloquence,  abilities,  and  zeal  in  the  revolutionary  cause.  In  1791,  he  was  ap 
pointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  general  Court  of  Maryland ;  and  five  years  afterwards 
was  promoted  by  WASHINGTON,  to  the  office  of  an  associate  judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States.  Having,  in  his  official  conduct,  given  much  offence 
to  the  Democratic  party,  he  was  impeached  by  the  House  of  Representatives- 
His  trial  before  the  Senate  "  is  memorable  on  account  of  the  excitement  which 
it  produced,  the  ability  with  which  he  was  defended,  and  the  nature  of  his  ac 
quittal." 

He  continued  the  exercise  of  his  judicial  functions,  with  signal  ability,  until 
his  decease,  on  the  19th  of  June,  1811. 

Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton,  the  last  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration,  was 
born  in  1737.  He  was  a  member  of  Congress  for  several  years.  He  served  in 
the  United  States  from  1788  to  1791,  from  which  time  until  1801,  he  was  an 
active  member  of  the  Senate  of  Maryland — his  native  state.  He  died  on  the  14th 
of  November,  1832. — ED. 


LAKE  GEORGE GENERAL  SCHUYLER.  143 

terror  we  attach  to  the  adventitious  circumstances  which  seem  to 
accelerate  man's  doom,  had  given  to  a  piece  of  standing  water 
near  the  road,  the  name  bloody  pond.  The  descending  sun  had 
shed  a  browner  horror  on  the  wilderness ;  and  as  we  passed  the 
dismal  pool,  we  experienced  that  transient  emotion  of  commissera- 
tion,  which  is  natural  to  the  mind  when  contemplating  past  events, 
involving  the  fall  of  friends,  the  fortune  of  war,  and  the  sad  lot  of 
human  kind.  Denique  ob  casus  bellorunij  et  sortem  hominum. 

At  length,  after  a  journey  of  three  hundred  and  thirty  miles, 
arriving  at  the  quarters  of  General  Schuyler,  on  the  border  of  the 
Lake,  we  acquitted  ourselves  of  our  charge.  He  proposed  to 
me,  if  agreeable,  to  go  on  with  it ;  but  in  addition  to  attractions  of  a 
private  nature,  which  drew  me  to  Philadelphia,  the  wish  to  be 
there  in  order  to  make  provision  for  our  march  to  New  York, 
orders  for  which  had  been  daily  expected  before  we  set  out,  in 
duced  me  to  decline  the  opportunity  of  seeing  the  country  beyond 
the  Lake,  as  well  as  my  friends  in  the  northern  army.  We  there 
fore  only  staid  at  this  post,  until  the  return  despatches  to  Congress 
were  prepared,  which  was  the  third  day  after  our  arrival. 

Though  General  Schuyler  has  been  charged  with  such  haughti 
ness  of  demeanour,  as  to  have  induced  the  troops  of  New  Eng 
land  to  decline  serving  under  his  command,  as  stated  in  Marshall's 
Life  of  Washington,  the  reception  we  met  with,  was  not  merely 
courteous  but  kind.  His  quarters  being  contracted,  a  bed  wTas 
prepared  for  us  in  his  own  apartment,  and  we  experienced  civili 
ties  that  were  flattering  from  an  officer  of  his  high  rank.  Though 
thoroughly  the  man  of  business,  he  was  also  a  gentleman  and 
man  of  the  world ;  and  well  calculated  to  sustain  the  reputation 
of  our  army  in  the  eyes  of  the  British  officers,  (disposed  to  de 
preciate  it,)  as  is  evidenced  by  the  account  given  by  General 
Burgoyne  of  the  manner  in  which  he  was  entertained  by  him  at 
Albany.  But  that  he  should  have  been  displeasing  to  the  Yankees, 
I  am  not  at  all  surprised:  he  certainly  was  at  no  pains  to  conceal 
the  extreme  contempt  he  felt  for  a  set  of  officers,  \vho  were  both 
a  disgrace  to  their  stations  and  the  cause  in  which  they  acted!* 

*  Peabody,  in  his  Life  of  Sullivan,  speaks  of  General  Schuyler  "  as  a  brave 
and  indefatigable  officer,  whose  unpopularity  through  a  large  portion  of  the 


144  CHARACTER  OF  GEN.  SCHUYLER. 

Being  yet  a  stranger  to  the  character  of  these  men,  and  the  con 
stitution  of  that  part  of  our  military  force  which  in  Pennsylvania 
was  considered  as  the  bulwark  of  the  nation,  I  must  confess  my 
surprise  at  an  incident  which  took  place  while  at  dinner.  Besides 
the  General,  the  members  of  his  family  and  ourselves,  there  were 
at  table  a  lady  and  gentleman  from  Montreal.  A  New  England 
Captain  came  in  upon  some  business,  with  that  abject  servility  of 
manner,  which  belongs  to  persons  of  the  meanest  rank :  he  was 
neither  asked  to  sit  or  take  a  glass  of  wine,  and  after  announcing 
his  wants,  was  dismissed  with  that  peevishness  of  tone  we  apply 
to  a  low  and  vexatious  intruder.  This  man,  in  his  proper  sphere, 
might  have  been  entitled  to  better  treatment ;  but  when  presuming 
to  thrust  himself  into  a  situation,  in  which,  far  other  qualifications 
than  his  were  required,  and  upon  an  occasion  too  which  involved 
some  of  the  most  important  of  human  interests,  I  am  scarcely 
prepared  to  say,  it  was  unmerited.* 

The  day  we  spent  at  this  station  was  employed  in  taking  a 
view  of  the  remains  of  Fort  William  Henry,  and  in  sauntering 


country  it  is  not  easy  to  explain."  Mr.  Graydon  has  briefly  solved  the  mystery. 
Of  the  justice  of  the  above  observations,  respecting  New  England  officers,  we 
have  no  means  of  judging.  It  cannot,  however,  fail  to  excite  a  feeling  of  regret 
that  such  severity  of  expression  was  considered  necessary  in  regard  to  them,  what- 
ever  may  have  been  their  demerits.  Our  New  England  brethren  nobly  performed 
their  whole  duty  throughout  the  entire  war,  and  well  have  they  since  sustained 
their  republican  institutions  and  character. 

General  Schuyler  had  the  reputation  of  being  cold  and  reserved  in  his  intercourse 
with  officers  and  men.  Such  was  his  natural  disposition.  But  he  was  a  brave, 
accomplished  and  devoted  patriot,  and  his  name  and  reputation  will  ever  be  dear 
to  his  country. 

General  Wilkinson's  impressions,  however,  appear  to  have  been  of  a  different 
and  more  favourable  character.  He  says,  "  Schuyler  was  an  eltve  of  Major- 
General  Bradstreet  in  the  seven  years'  war,  possessed  a  strong,  fertile  and  culti 
vated  mind  ;  with  polished  manners  he  united  the  most  amiable  disposition  and 
insinuating  address,  and  his  convivial  pleasantry  never  failed  to  interest  and 
enliven  his  society  ;  in  the  discharge  of  his  military  duties,  he  was  able,  prompt, 
and  decisive,  and  his  conduct  in  every  branch  of  service  marked  by  active  in 
dustry  and  rapid  execution." — ED. 

*  See  in  Appendix  H,  a  letter  from  GENERAL  WASHINGTON  to  President  Reed, 
dated  "  Head  Quarters,  Passaic  Falls,  18th  Oct.,  1780,"  on  the  subject  of  Ge 
neral  Schuyler  and  General  Arnold,  also  showing  that  he  never  had  any  particular 
consideration  for,  or  confidence  in,  the  latter. — ED. 


RETURN  OF  THE  AUTHOR JUDGE  LIVINGSTON.  146 

along  the  margin  of  the  immense  fountain  of  pure  water  which 
constitutes  Lake  George.  We  were  much  indebted  upon  this 
occasion  to  the  polite  attentions  of  Mr.  Brockolst  Livingston,* 
who  was  at  this  time  one  of  the  Aids-de-camp  of  Gen.  Schuyler, 
and  who  so  far  dispensed  with  his  avocations  as  to  show  us  what 
was  worthy  of  being  seen.  We  lost  no  time  in  setting  off,  as 
soon  as  the  despatches  were  ready  for  us ;  and  returned  with  all 
possible  expedition,  in  order  to  prepare  ourselves  for  the  expected 
march  of  our  regiment  to  join  the  main  army  under  the  Commander- 
in-chief.  Orders  for  that  purpose  had  already  been  received,  and 
were  complied  with  in  about  a  week  after  our  return.  The  troops 
were  transported  by  water  to  Trenton ;  from  whence  marching  to 
Elizabethtown,  they  were  again  embarked  in  vessels  which  carried 
them  to  New  York. 

*  Son  of  the  celebrated  William  Livingston — Governor  of  New  Jersey.  He 
was  entered  as  a  student  at  Nassau  Hall,  Princeton,  but  left  the  College,  in 
1776,  for  the  field,  and  became  one  of  the  family  of  Gen.  Schuyler.  He  was 
afterwards  attached  to  the  suite  of  Gen.  Arnold,  with  the  rank  of  Major,  and 
shared  in  the  honour  of  the  conquest  of  Burgoyne. 

In  1779  he  accompanied  MR.  JAY  to  Spain,  as  private  Secretary.  In  1802  he 
was  called  to  the  Bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  York,  and  in  1806,  was 
transferred  to  that  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  which  station  he 
held,  with  distinguished  ability,  until  his  decease  in  March,  1823,  in  the  66th 
year  of  his  age. — ED. 


13 


146  THE  AUTHOR  LEAVES  PHILADELPHIA. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Author  leaves  Philadelphia. — Appearance  of  the  Army. — Character  of  the 
Soldiers. — Erection  of  Fort  Washington. — Fort  Lee. — Character  of  General 
Mifflin. — An  odd  Character. — Connecticut  Light  Horse. — Character  of  the 
Army. — Declaration  of  Independence. — Statue  of  George  III. — British  land  on 
Long  Island. — Action  with  the  Enemy. — New  York. — Privations  of  Soldiers. — 
Long  Island. — Entrenchments. — Skirmishing. — Midnight  Scene  in  Camp. — 
Retreat  to  New  York. — Reflections. — Washington  vindicated. — General  Howe. 
— Conduct  of  the  British. 

THE  much  deprecated  event  of  marching  from  Philadelphia, 
was  not  the  less  afflicting  for  having  been  foreseen.  The  reader 
is  acquainted  with  the  attraction  which  existed  there;  and  it  is 
for  those  alone  who  have  felt  the  effervescence  of  the  passions, 
to  form  a  just  conception  of  the  pangs,  attendant  on  this  separa 
tion  from  it.  To  say  it  was  a  disruption  of  my  heart  strings, 
would  be  a  language  neither  too  forcible  nor  figurative  for  the 
occasion.  The  other  absences  imposed  by  the  demands  of  impe 
rious  duty,  were  not  without  disquietude ;  but  they  were  cheered 
by  the  prospect  of  a  speedy  termination.  This,  before  me,  was 
a  toiling  sea  without  a  shore ;  a  dreary,  illimitable  Void ;  and  in 
subjecting  myself  to  the  stern  mandate  which  now  forced  me 
away,  I  recognise  a  sacrifice  which  imparts  some  merit  to  my 
poor  exertions  in  behalf  of  my  country.  If  equal  deprivations 
were  sustained  by  others,  I  venture  confidently  to  affirm,  that  es 
timated  by  the  measure  of  suffering,  none  were  greater  than  my 
own.  On  account  of  my  late  service  interfering  with  the  neces 
sary  preparations  for  the  march,  I  had  been  permitted  for  about 
a  week,  to  defer  the  moment  of  exile.  When  no  longer  to  be 
postponed,  I  took  my  passage  in  the  stage,  where,  indifferent  to 
all  around  me,  I  sat  ruminating  on  scenes  of  happiness  departed, 
cheerless  and  lost  to  every  hope  of  their  return.  Dreams  of  glory, 
itt  is  true,  sometimes  crossed  my  imagination,  but  discordant  to 


APPEARANCE  OF  THE  ARMY.  147 

the  toneof  the  predominant  passion,  the  images  were  painful,  and 
deeply  tinged  with  despair.  In  so  desolating  a  frame  of  mind, 
I  perceived  the  necessity  of  active  duty,  which  should  leave  me 
no  time  for  reflection ;  and  under  this  impression,  as  I  approached 
my  place  of  destination,  became  as  impatient  for  its  attainment 
as  I  had  been  reluctant  in  setting  out  for  it;  eager  to  immerse 
myself  in  martial  occupations, 

"  As  in  the  hardy  camp  and  toilsome  march, 
Forget  all  softer  and  less  manly  cares." 

A  considerable  portion  of  our  motley  army  had  already  as 
sembled  in  New  York  and  its  vicinity.  The  troops  were  chiefly 
from  the  eastern  provinces;  those  from  the  southern,  with  the 
exception  of  Hand's,  Magaw's,  and  our  regiment,  had  not  yet 
come  on.  The  appearance  of  things  was  not  much  calculated  to 
excite  sanguine  expectations  in  the  mind  of  a  sober  observer. 
Great  numbers  of  people  were  indeed  to  be  seen,  and  those  who 
are  not  accustomed  to  the  sight  of  bodies  under  arms,  are  al 
ways  prone  to  exaggerate  them.  But  this  propensity  to  swell 
the  mass,  had  not  an  equal  tendency  to  convert  it  into  soldiery; 
and  the  irregularity,  want  of  discipline,  bad  arms,  and  defective 
equipment  in  all  respects,  of  this  multitudinous  assemblage,  gave 
no  favourable  impression  of  its  prowess.  The  materials  of  which 
the  eastern  battalions  were  composed,  were  apparently  the  same 
as  those  of  which  I  had  seen  so  unpromising  a  specimen  at  Lake 
George.  I  speak  particularly  of  the  officers,  who  were  in  no 
single  respect  distinguishable  from  their  men,  other  than  in  the 
coloured  cockades,  which,  for  this  very  purpose,  had  been  pre 
scribed  in  general  orders ;  a  different  colour  being  assigned  to 
the  officers  of  each  grade.  So  far  from  aiming  at  a  deportment 
which  might  raise  them  above  their  privates,  and  thence  prompt 
them  to  due  respect  and  obedience  to  their  commands,  the  ob 
ject  was,  by  humility,  to  preserve  the  existing  blessing  of  equa 
lity  :  an  illustrious  instance  of  which  was  given  by  Colonel  Put 
nam,  the  chief  engineer  of  the  army,  and  no  less  a  personage  than 
the  nephew  of  the  Major-General  of  that  name.  "  What,"  says  a 
person  meeting  him  one  day  with  a  piece  of  meat  in  his  hand, 
"  carrying  home  your  rations  yourself,  Colonel !"  "  Yes,"  says 


148  CHARACTER  OF  THE  SOLDIERS. 

he,  "  and  I  cloit  to  set  the  officers  a  good  example."  But  if  any 
aristocratic  tendencies  had  been  really  discovered  by  the  Colonel 
among  his  countrymen,  requiring  this  wholesome  example,  they 
must  have  been  of  recent  origin,  and  the  effect  of  southern  con 
tamination,  since  I  have  been  credibly  informed,  that  it  was  no 
unusual  thing  in  the  army  before  Boston,  for  a  Colonel  to  make 
drummers  and  fifers  of  his  sons,  thereby,  not  only  being  enabled 
to  form  a  very  snug,  economical  mess,  but  to  aid  also  considera 
bly  the  revenue  of  the  family  chest.  In  short,  it  appeared,  that 
the  sordid  spirit  of  gain  was  the  vital  principle  of  this  greater 
part  of  the  army.*  The  only  exception  I  recollect  to  have  seen, 
to  these  miserably  constituted  bands  from  New  England,  was 
the  regiment  of  Glover  from  Marblehead.f  There  was  an  ap- 

16  This  sentiment  is  supported  by  a  passage  in  a  letter  from  General  WASHING 
TON  to  General  Reed,,  dated  Cambridge,  10th  February,  1776. 

"  Notwithstanding  all  the  public  virtue  which  is  ascribed  to  these  people,  there 
is  no  nation  under  the  sun  that  pays  more  adoration  to  money  than  they  do." 

I  am  aware  that  these  references  to  Qeneral  WASHINGTON'S  sentiments  will  bo 
strongly  repulsive  to  the  feelings  of  many  worthy  men,  from  the  consideration 
that  the  General's  character  stands  particularly  high  in  New  England,  and  that 
in  that  quarter  of  the  Union  are  found  not  only  the  greatest  number  of  his  admirers, 
but  also  many  of  the  ablest  defenders  of  his  policy  and  fame.  But  can  these  con 
fidential  declarations  of  his  opinions,  emanating  from  an  ardent  love  of  his  coun 
try  and  zeal  in  her  eause,  justly  lessen  him  in  the  estimation  of  a  single  man  of 
liberality  and  understanding  ?  Is  truth  to  be  eternally  muffled  up  and  the  mate-, 
rials  of  faithful  history  suppressed,  lest  her  exposure  in  certain  instances  may  be 
displeasing  to  some  good  men  and  grateful  to  a  malignant  faction  ?  for  useful  it 
cannot  be.  To  the  promulgation  indeed  of  these  truths,  the  retribution  is  certain. 
His  book,  "  the  unkindest  cut  of  all,"  to  an  author,  will  not  sell.  It  will  be  shunned 
like  a  pestilence  in  those  places,  where  the  truths  it  holds  out,  are  unwelcome. 
For  this  reason  I  have  been  given  to  understand  that  my  publication  will  not  do 
at  all  for  a  New  England  market.  Some  repugnance  of  the  same  kind  would 
seem  to  exist  against  it  in  New  "York,  as  not  long  since  a  book-seller  of  that  city 
informed  me  he  could  not  dispose  of  a  single  copy.  Even  in  its  birth-place,  Penn 
sylvania,  it  is  very  illy  calculated  for  popularity  ;  and  as  for  Virginia  and  her 
dependencies  sweeping  the  whole  Southern  States  to  Louisiana  inclusive,  it  must 
then  be,  if  not  too  contemptible  for  notice,  a  subject  of  the  bitterest  execration. 
Nevertheless,  I  am  consoled  by  the  invincible  pridr;  of  conscious  honesty  and  the 
major  arnica  rertias,  in  a  collision  with  all  other  friendships. 

t  JOHN  GLOVER,  a  native  of  Marblehead,  in  Massachusetts,  a  Brigadier-General 
in  the  army  of  the  United  States.  With  his  command  he  formed  the  advance  of 
the  army  in  its  passage  of  the  Delaware,  and  was,  of  course,  at  the  Battle  of  Tren 
ton.  He  conducted  Burgoync's  army,  after  its  surrender,  through  the  New  Eng- 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  SOLDIERS GENERAL  GLOVER.  149 

pearance  of  discipline  in  this  corps ;  the  officers  seemed  to  have 
mixed  with  the  world,  and  to  understand  what  belonged  to  their 
stations.  Though  deficient,  perhaps,  in  polish,  it  possessed  an 
apparent  aptitude  for  the  purpose  of  its  institution,  and  gave  a 
confidence  that  myriads  of  its  meek  and  lowly  brethren  were  in 
competent  to  inspire.  But  even  in  this  regiment  there  were  a 
number  of  negroes,  which,  to  persons  unaccustomed  to  such  as 
sociations,  had  a  disagreeable,  degrading  effect. 

If  there  were  any  troops  here,  at  this  time,  from  Jersey,  I  do  not 
recollect  seeing  them  ;  and  those  of  New  York,  appeared  not  to  be 
very  numerous.  They,  however,  afforded  officers,  who  might 
have  been  distinguished  without  a  badge ;  and  who  were  suffk 
ciently  men  of  the  world,  to  know  that  the  levelling  principle  was 
of  all  others,  the  most  incompatible  with  good  soldiership.  Colo-t 
nel  Hamilton*  had  been  furnished  by  this  province,  making  his 
debut  in  the  new  career  as  a  captain  of  artillery ;  but  I  never  saw 
him  in  this  capacity,  and  I  believe  he  was  soon  taken  into  the 
family  of  the  Commander-in-chief..  Reinforcements  were  yet  ex-, 
pected  from  the  southward.  Among  these  were  Miles'sf  and 


land  States.  He  enjoyed,  in  a  very  high  degree,  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  the 
Commander-in-chief,  whose  commendation  was  warmly  bestowed.  He  served 
throughout  the  war  with  high  reputation. — ED. 

*  ALEXANDER  HAMILTON,  a  name  not  very  dear  to  the  "progressive  democracy  " 
of  our  party-ridden  country,  but  nevertheless,  one  of  the  brightest  and  greatest  that 
ever  adorned  the  annals  of  any  nation.  His  personal  appearance  is  graphically 
described  by  Sullivan  in  his  "  Familiar  Letters,"  already  quoted :  "  He  was  under 
middle  size,  thin  in  person,  but  remarkably  erect  and  dignified  in  his  deportment. 
His  hair  was  turned  back  from  his  forehead,  powdered,  and  collected  in  a  club 
behind.  His  complexion  was  exceedingly  fair,  and  varying  from  this  only  by  the 
almost  feminine  rosiness  of  his  cheeks.  His  might  be  considered,  as  to  figure 
and  colour,  an  uncommonly  handsome  face.  When  at  rest,  it  had  rather  a  severe 
and  thoughtful  expression ;  but  when  engaged  in  conversation,  it  easily  assumed 
an  attractive  smile.  When  he  entered  a  room  it  was  apparent,  from  the  respect 
ful  attention  of  the  company,  that  he  was  a  distinguished  person. 

His  appearance  and  deportment  accorded  with  the  dignified  distinction  to  which 
he  had  attained  in  public  estimation."  At  the  period  of  his  death,  in  July,  1804, 
he  was  in  his  48th  year. — ED. 

t  MILES  is  mentioned  by  WASHINGTON  in  his  letter  to  the  President  of  Congress, 
dated  New  York,  August  12th,  1776: 

"  The  enemy  have  made  no  movements  of  consequence,  nor  have  we  any  farther 
intelligence  of  their  designs.  Colonel  Smalhvood  and  his  battalion  got  in  on 

13* 


150  CHARACTER  OF  THE  SOLDIERS. 

Atlee's  provincial  regiments  from  Pennsylvania ;  Hazlet's*  from 
Delaware,  and  Smallwood'sf  from  Maryland,  both,  I  think,  on  the 
continental  establishment ;  and  in  addition,  large  drafts  from  the 
militia  of  Pennsylvania.  All  these  were  assembled  in  time  for  the 
opening  of  the  campaign :  but  although  the  multitude,  of  which 
they  were  a  part,  contained  some  excellent  raw  materials,  and  was 
not  without  officers  of  spirit,  possessing  feelings  suitable  to  their 
situation,  yet  diffused  throughout  the  mass,  they  were  certainly 
extremely  rare.  The  eye  looked  round  in  vain  for  the  leading 
gentry  of  the  country ;  those,  most  emphatically  pledged  to  the 
cause,  "by  life,  by  fortune,  and  by  sacred  honour ;"£  and  taking 
the  army  in  the  aggregate,  with  its  equipments  along  with  it,  he 
must  have  been  a  novice  or  a  sanguine  calculator,  who  could  sup 
pose  it  capable  of  sustaining  the  lofty  tone  and  verbal  energy  of 
Congress.  In  point  of  numbers  merely,  it  was  deficient;  though 
a  fact  then  little  known  or  suspected.  Newspapers  and  common 
report,  indeed,  made  it  immensely  numerous  ;  and  it  was  repre 
sented  that  General  Washington  had  so  many  men,  that  he  wanted 


Friday ;  and  Colonel  Miles  is  also  here  with  two  battalions  more  of  Pennsylvania 
riflemen." 

*  Colonel  JOHN*  HASLET:  He  distinguished  himself  at  the  Battle  of  Lons' Island. 
In  1776,  with  seven  hundred  and  fifty  men,  he  attacked  the  enemy's  outposts  at 
the  Village  of  Mamaronee,  and  forced  their  guards,  taking-  thirty-six  prisoners,  a 
pair  of  colours,  and  sixty  stand  of  arms.  He  was  killed  at  the  Battle  of  Prince 
ton. 

f  Colonel  WILLIAM  SMALLWOOD  was  at  the  action  of  White  Plains.  He  was  pro 
moted  to  the  rank  of  general,  and,  in  1777,  was  despatched  to  take  command  of 
the  Maryland  Militia  on  the  Western  Shore.  He  joined  the  main  army  in  Sep 
tember  of  the  same  year,  and  was  at  the  Battle  of  Germantown.  In  1785,  lie  was 
elected  to  Congress,  and  the  same  year,  Governor  of  Maryland.  He  died,  Febru 
ary,  1792.— ED. 

t  Congress,  to  be  sure,  were  privileged;  and  there  must  be  civil  functions  as 
well  as  military.  But  these  were  a  good  deal  a  matter  of  choice ;  and  as  the  war 
was  a  common  cause,  the  very  creature  of  association,  its  rubs  should  have  been 
somewhat  equalized.  Thoughts  of  this  kind,  however,  would  sometimes  intrude  into 
minds  soured  by  hard  duty.  Another  thing  which  also  tended  to  lessen  the  number 
of  youiig  men  of  figure  was,  that  many  prudent  men  thought  the  time  extremely 
convenient  for  sending  their  sons  to  Europe  for  education.  There  they  could  be 
better  taught  and  were  out  of  harm's  way;  and  upon  the  whole,  one  is  justified  in 
saying  as  Cornelius  Nepos  docs  of  the  Athenians,  in  his  Life  of  Thrasybulus, 
nnm  jam  illis  temporibus  fortius  boni  pro.  liberfate  loyucbantitr,  quam  pugnabunt. 


FORT  WASHINGTON. COLONELS  MAGAW  AND  PUTNAM.        151 

no  more,  and  had  actually  sent  many  home,  as  superfluous.  It 
is  true,  there  were  men  enough  coming  and  going ;  yet  his  letters 
of  that  day  demonstrate  how  truly  weak  he  was  in  steady,  perma 
nent  soldiers. 

It  was  probably  between  the  twentieth  and  twenty-fifth  of  June, 
that  I  arrived  in  this  busy  scene  ;  in  a  few  days  after  which,  our 
regiment  and  Magaw's*  were  marched  towards  Kingsbridge,  and 
encamped  upon  the  ground  on  which  Fort  Washington  was 
erected.  We  were  here  under  the  command  of  General  Mifflin, 
and  immediately  employed  in  the  construction  of  that  fortress, 
under  the  direction  of  Colonel  Putnam,  who,  as  already  men 
tioned,  was  our  principal  engineer,  and,  considering  his  want  of 
experience,  not  destitutCj  perhaps,  of  merit  in  his  profession.  As 
a  man  may  be  a  rhetorician  or  a  logician  though  unacquainted 
with  the  terms  of  the  art,  so  might  Mr.  Putnam  have  been  a  good 
practical  artist,  though  misterming  the  Gorge  the  George-.  But 
this  was  merely  a  mistake  in  pronunciation  ;  and  I  will  not  per 
mit  myself  to  question,  that  he  had  real  science  enough  to  have 
smelt  out  Moliere's  jest  about  a  demi-lune  and  a  lune  toute  en- 
tiere.  f 


*  Colonel  ROBERT  MAGAW. — He  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  Fort 
Washington.  When  General  Howe  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  garrison, 
Colonel  Magaw  returned  the  following  gallant  answer  to  the  British  Adutant- 
General : — 

"•15th  November,  1776." 

"  Sir,  if  I  rightly  understand  the  purport  of  your  message  from  General  Howe, 
communicated  to  Colonel  Swoope,  this  post  is  to  be  immediately  surrendered,  or 
put  to  the  sword.  I  think  it  rather  a  mistake,  than  a  settled  purpose  of  General 
Howe,  to  act  a  part  so  unworthy  of  himself,  and  of  the  British  nation.  But  give 
me  leave  to  assure  his  Excellency,  that,  actuated  by  the  most  glorious  cause  that 
mankind  ever  fought  in,  I  am  determined  to  defend  this  post  to  the  very  last  ex 
tremity. — Robert  Magaw." — ED, 

1  Colonel  RUPUS  PUTNAM, — In  regard  to  his  qualifications  as  an  engineer, 
General  WASHINGTON,  in  his  letter  to  Congress  of  20th  December,  1776,  says,  "I 
have  also  to  mention,  that,  for  want  of  some  establishment  in  the  department  of 
engineers,  agreeably  to  the  plan  laid  before  Congress,  in  October  last,  Colonel 
Putnam,  who  was  at  the  head  of  it,  has  quitted,  arid  taken  a  regiment  in  Massa 
chusetts.  I  know  of  no  other  man  tolerably  well  qualified,  for  the  conducting 
of  that  business.  None  of  the  French  gentlemen,  whom  I  have  seen,  with  ap 
pointments  in  that  way,  appear  to  me,  to  know  any  thing  of  the  matter."  And 
again  in  his  letter  to  Congress,  from  Pompton  Plains,  in  July,  1777,  he  remarks,. 


152  FORT  WASHINGTON. 

In  the  course  of  some  weeks,  our  labours  had  produced  im 
mense  mounds  of  earth,  assuming  a  pentagonal  form,  and  finally 
issuing  in  a  fort  of  five  bastions.  As  Caesar,  in  his  operations, 
has  been  said  to  have  made  great  use  of  the  spade,  I  shall  not 
insist  upon  the  improbus  labor  being  beneath  the  dignity  of  a 
soldier ;  but  certain  it  is,  that  we  then  thought  it  so,  and  that  the 
continual  fatigue-duty  we  were  subjected  to,  was  not  only  extremely 
irksome,  but  unfavourable  also  to  our  improvement  in  tactics, 
which,  nevertheless,  was  assiduously  attended  to.  The  perpe 
tual  clouds  of  dust  which  the  dry  weather  of  the  season  occa 
sioned,  gave  us  the  appearance  of  scavengers ;  a  circumstance 
sadly  at  variance  with  the  neatness  of  person  inculcated  by 
Colonel  Shee,  and  of  which  he  was  an  enthusiastic  admirer :  it 
made  our  duty  also  extremely  severe,  and  gave  me  an  inflamma 
tion  in  my  eyes,  which  was  the  only  indisposition  I  experienced 
during  the  campaign.  Sickness,  however,  on  the  approach  of 
fall,  prevailed  among  our  men  to  a  great  degreee ;  and  little 
more  than  half  our  number,  was  at  any  time  fit  for  duty.  Thus, 
without  fighting,  are  armies  "sluggishly  melted  away." 

One  of  the  chief  objects  in  building  Fort  Washington  is  under 
stood  to  have  been,  to  prevent  the  enemy  passing  up  the  Hudson, 
on  whose  eastern  bank  it  stood,  on  very  commanding  ground. 
On  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  Fort  Lee,  in  the  same  view, 
was  afterwards  erected:  and  these,  with  the  sinking  of  some 
hulks  in  the  channel,  were  expected,  or  at  least  hoped,  to  be 
sufficient  for  the  purpose.  But  the  inefficacy  of  these  impedi 
ments  was  soon  evinced  by  two  frigates,  that  taking  advantage 
of  a  favourable  wrind,  sailed  by  us  with  great  gallantry,  in  English 
phrase,  returning  our  fire  in  great  style.  We  were  too  high  for 
their  guns  to  be  brought  to  bear  upon  us  with  any  certainty ; 
though  one  ball  was  thrown  into  the  fort.  Our  elevated  situation, 
was  nearly  as  unfavourable  to  the  success  of  our  fire  upon  them  ; 

"Colonel  Putnam,  I  imagine,  will  be  with  him  (General  Schuylcr)  before  this,  as 
his  regiment  is  part  of  Nixon's  brigade,  who  will  answer  every  purpose  he  can 
possibly  have  for  an  engineer  at  this  crisis." 

Colonel  Putnam  served  well  and  faithfully, throughout  the  war;  at  its  close  he 
held  the  rank  of  Brigadier-General,  and  was,  subsequently,  one  of  the  first  sq^ 
tiers  in,  the  North  Western  territory. — ED. 


GENERAL  MIFFLIN.  153 

to  remedy  which  in  future,  a  battery  was  constructed  below,  in  a 
very  advantageous  position.  But  this  was  attended  with  no  better 
effect ;  as  two  other  frigates,  not  long  after,  passed  in  defiance  of 
the  guns  of  both  batteries,  and  apparently  without  having  sus 
tained  the  slighest  injury.  I  afterwards  learned,  however,  when 
prisoner  in  New  York,  that  upon  one  of  these  occasions,  one  of 
the  frigates  had  been  hulled,  and  some  men  killed  and  wounded ; 
among  the  latter,  a  midshipman,  a  son  of  Mr.  Courtland  Skinner, 
of  Amboy,  lost  his  arm. 

To  have  been  regular,  I  should  have  mentioned  the  arrival  of 
the  hostile  forces,  and  their  occupancy  of  Staten  Island  as  a  pre 
paratory  station.  From  the  uncertainty  in  wrhat  quarter  they 
might  invade  us,  the  utmost  vigilance  was  inculcated  everywhere, 
and  observed  at  our  post.  The  lines  were  manned  every  morn 
ing  an  hour  before  day-light ;  we  were  several  times  formed  for 
action;  and  once  marched  to  Bloomingdale  in  full  expectation 
of  meeting  the  enemy,  who  it  was  confidently  asserted,  had  made 
good  a  landing  there,  or  in  the  neighbourhood.  The  intelligence 
proved  untrue,  if  such  indeed  had  been  received.  But  it  is  not 
improbable,  that  it  was  merely  a  contrivance  of  General  Mifflin, 
to  inure  us  to  alarms  and  render  us  alert,  objects,  that  to  a  certain 
extent,  were  not  without  utility ;  but  the  General  was  a  bust 
ler,  who  harassed  us  unnecessarily ;  and,  considering  the  un 
avoidable  severity  of  our  duty,  to  the  real  injury  of  the  health  of  the 
troops.  His  manners  were  better  adapted  to  attract  popularity 
than  to  preserve  it.  Highly  animated  in  his  appearance,  and 
possessing  in  an  eminent  degree  the  talent  of  harranguing  a  mul 
titude,  his  services  in  giving  motion  to  the  militia,  were  several 
times,  in  the  course  of  the  war,  felt  and  acknowledged ;  but  that 
he  was  equally  calculated  to  keep  alive  military  ardour  and  con 
fidence,  cannot  be  affirmed.  He  was  full  of  activity  and  appa 
rently  of  fire  ;  but  it  rather  resembled  the  transient  blaze  of  light 
combustibles,  than  the  constant,  steady  flame  of  substantial  fuel : 
though  in  saying  this  it  should  be  mentioned,  that  I  have  no 
ground  to  insinuate  that  his  fortitude  was  not  equal  to  any  de 
mand  that  might  have  been  made  upon  it.  He  assumed  a  little 
of  the  veteran  from  having  lain  before  Boston ;  was  very  fond  of 
telling  us  that  he  would  bring  us  into  a  scrape  ;  and  it  must  be 


154  AN  ODD  CHARACTER. 

confessed,  that  he  was  considerably  happy  in  the  display  of  that 
apathy  to  human  carnage,  which  is  affected  by  great  commanders, 
in  the  spirit  of  which  the  great  Frederick  tells  us,  that  "When 
sovereigns  play  for  provinces,  the  lives  of  men  are  but  as  coun 
ters."  So  much  'tis  better  to  direct  the  game,  than  be  a  compo 
nent  part  of  its  machinery!  But  whatever  might  have  been 
Mifflin's  deficiencies,  he  had  many  qualifications  for  his  station 
that  too  many  others,  placed  in  higher  ones,  wanted.  He  was  a 
man  of  education,  ready  apprehension  and  brilliancy ;  had  spent 
some  time  in  Europe,  particularly  in  France,  and  was  very  easy 
of  access  with  the  manners  of  genteel  life,  though  occasionally 
evolving  those  of  the  Quaker.  In  delineating  both  men  and 
events,  my  object  is  truth;  otherwise  the  friendly  attention  I 
never  fail  to  receive  from  this  gentleman,  might  have  led  me  into 
a  strain  of  less  qualified  encomium.* 

The  first  frigates  that  passed  us,  took  their  station  in  Tappan 
sea,  where  an  attempt  was  made  to  set  them  on  fire.  It  failed  as 
to  the  larger  vessels,  but  a  tender  was  destroyed.  One  of  the 
persons  who  embarked  in  this  service  as  a  volunteer,  was  the 
surgeon's  mate  of  our  regiment,  a  singular  character  and  degene 
rate  son  of  Mordecai  Yarnall,  a  Quaker  preacher.  I  was  amused 

*  General  THOMAS  MIFFLIN.— He  was  appointed  Quarter-master-General  by 
WASHINGTON,  in  1775.  Richard  Henry  Lee,  in  his  reply  to  WASHINGTON'S  letter 
informing  him  of  this,  says  :— "  I  think  you  could  not  possibly  have  appointed  a 
better  man,  to  his  present  office  than  Mr.  Mifflin.  He  is  a  singular  man,  and 
you  certainly  will  meet  with  the  applause  and  support  of  all  good  men,  by  pro. 
moting  and  countenancing  real  merit  and  public  virtue,  in  opposition  to  all  private 
interests  and  partial  affection."  He  distinguished  himself  at  the  siege  of  Boston 
by  his  coolness  and  intrepidity,  and,  at  the  age  of  32,  was  appointed  by  Con- 
gress,  a  Brigadier.  In  1777  lie  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Major-General. 
In  1783,  he  was  elected  to  Congress  from  Pennsylvania,  his  native  state,  and 
presided,  with  ability  and  dignity,  over  the  deliberations  of  that  body.  In  1785, 
he  was  speaker  of  the  Legislative  Assembly,  and  subsequently,  president  of  the 
Supreme  Executive  Council.  He  had  been  a  member  of  the  convention  which 
framed  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and,  in  1799,  assisted  as  president 
of  the  convention,  in  forming  the  new  Constitution  of  the  State.  He  was  the  first 
Governor  under  this  Constitution,  and  held  the  office  for  nine  years,  having  been 
thrice  elected.  As  president  of  Congress,  he  received,  at  Annapolis,  the  resigna 
tion  of  General  WASHINGTON,  as  Commander-in-chief,  delivering  on  the  occasion, 
a  brief,  but  eloquent  address  in  reply  to  the  speech  of  WASHINGTON.  He  died,  at 
Lancaster,  on  the  21st  of  January,  1800,  aged  56.— ED. 


CONNECTICUT  LIGHT  HORSE.  155 

with  his  oddities,  and  sometimes  listened  to  his  imitations  of  his 
father's  manner  of  preaching,  as  we'll  as  that  of  many  others  of 
the  public  friends.  Though  a  temporary  apostate  from  the  prin 
ciples  of  his  forefathers,  in  which  he  had  been  strictly  brought 
up,  I  never  doubted  that  they  had  taken  root  in  him;  and  that 
if  he  was  not  prematurely  cut  off,  they  would  vegetate  and  fruc 
tify  in  due  season :  nor  was  I  mistaken.  Many  years  after,  I 
saw  him  zealously  sustaining  his  paternal  vocation,  surrounded 
by  a  circle  of  friends.  He  had  come  to  preach  in  the  town  in 
which  I  resided:  I  went  to  hear  him,  and  had  the  pleasure  of 
taking  him  home  with  me  to  dinner  with  several  of  his  atten 
dants,  where  every  thing  passed  with  as  much  gravity  and  de 
corum,  as  if  I  had  never  seen  him  in  any  other  character.  Mr. 
Yarnall's  former  profaneness  could  not  but  have  occurred  to  him 
on  this  occasion ;  but  whatever  might  have  been  his  recollec 
tions,  he  dissembled  them  admirably. 

Among  the  military  phenomena  of  this  campaign,  the  Connec 
ticut  light  horse  ought  not  to  be  forgotten.  These  consisted  of 
a  considerable  number  of  old  fashioned  men,  probably  farmers 
and  heads  of  families,  as  they  were  generally  middle  aged,  and 
many  of  them  apparently  beyond  the  meridian  of  life.  They 
were  truly  irregulars;  and  whether  their  clothing,  their  equip 
ments  or  caparisons  were  regarded,  it  would  have  been  difficult 
to  have  discovered  any  circumstance  of  uniformity;  though  in 
the  features  derived  from  "  local  habitation,"  they  were  one  and 
the  same.  Instead  of  carbines  and  sabres,  they  generally  carried 
fowling  pieces;  some  of  them  very  long,  and  such  as  in  Pennsyl 
vania,  are  used  for  shooting  ducks.  Here  and  there,  one,  "  his 
youthful  garments,  well  saved,"  appeared  in  a  dingy  regimental 
of  scarlet,  with  a  triangular,  tarnished,  laced  hat.  In  short,  so 
little  \vere  they  like  modern  soldiers,  in  air  or  costume,  that, 
dropping  the  necessary  number  of  years,  they  might  have  been 
supposed  the  identical  men  who  had  in  part  composed  Pepperil's 
army  at  the  taking  of  Louisbourg.  Their  order  of  march  corre 
sponded  with  their  other  irregularities.  It  "  spindled  into  longi 
tude  immense,"  presenting  so  extended  and  ill-compacted  a 
flank,  as  though  they  had  disdained  the  adventitious  prowess 
derived  from  concentration.  These  singular  dragoons  were  vo- 


156  CHARACTER  OF  THE  ARMY. 

lunteers,  who  came  to  make  a  tender  of  their  services  to  the 
Commander-in-chief.  But  they  staid  not  long  at  New  York. 
As  such  a  body  of  cavalry  had  not  been  counted  upon,  there 
was  in  all  probability  a  want  of  forage  for  their  jades,  which,  in 
the  spirit  of  ancient  knighthood,  they  absolutely  refused  to  de 
scend  from;  and  as  the  general  had  no  use  for  cavaliers  in  his 
insular  operations,  they  were  forthwith  dismissed  with  suitable 
acknowledgments  for  their  truly  chivalrous  ardour.*  An  un 
lucky  trooper  of  this  school  had  by  some  means  or  other,  found 
his  way  to  Long  Island,  and  was  taken  by  the  enemy  in  the  bat 
tle  of  the  27th  of  August.  The  British  officers  made  themselves 
very  merry  at  his  expense,  and  obliged  him  to  amble  about  for 
their  entertainment.  On  being  asked,  what  had  been  his  duty 
in  the  rebel  army,  he  answered,  that  it  was  to  flank  a  little  and 
carry  tidings.  Such  at  least  was  the  story  at  New  York  among 
the  prisoners. 

But  notwithstanding  the  unwarlike  guise  of  the  troops  from 
New  England,  there  was  no  part  of  the  continent  perhaps,  in 
which  so  little  impression  could  be  made,  or  in  which  the  enemy 
was  so  cautious  of  advancing.  Their  numbers  and  zeal  ren 
dered  them  formidable  when  fighting  on  their  own  ground  pro 
aris  etfods;  and  pitiful  as  was  the  figure  the  eastern  men  made 
this  campaign,  the  defence  of  Bunker's  hill  was  worthy  of  the 
bravest  veterans. f  I  attempt  not  to  assign  a  cause  for  the  falling 

*  It  appears  from  a  letter  of  GENERAL  WASHINGTON,  that  they  refused  fatigue 
duty,  because  it  was  beneath  the  dignity  of  troopers. 

t  GENERAL  WASHINGTON  writes  under  date  of  10th  February,  1776,  to  Joseph 
Reed:  "The  party  sent  to  Bunker's  Hill  had  some  good  and  some  bad  men  en 
gaged  in  it.  One  or  two  courts  have  been  held  on  the  conduct  of  part  of  them. 
To  be  plain,  these  people  are  not  to  be  depended  upon  if  exposed ;  and  any'man 
will  fight  well  if  he  thinks  himself  in  no  danger.  I  do  not  apply  this  only  to  these 
people.  I  suppose  it  to  be  the  case  with  all  raw  and  undisciplined  troops." — 
Sparks,  Vol.  iii.  p.  285. 

With  no  other  motive  than  a  love  of  justice,  a  protest  must  here  be  entered 
against  a  judgment  so  severe  as  that  expressed  by  our  author  in  the  text.  What- 
ever  may  have  been  the  deficiencies  of  a  portion  of  the  New  England  troops  in 
equipment  and  discipline — deficiencies  by  no  means  peculiar  to  them — the  cou 
rage,  fortitude,  and  self  sacrificing  zeal  with  which  the  trials  and  difficulties  of  the 
Revolution  were  met,  endured,  and  finally  overcome,  ought  not  to  be  questioned. 
All  this  is  matter  of  history.  The  country  that  could  furnish  such  "  exigent 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  ARMY.  157 

off;  and  should  even  be  fearful  of  recognising  it,  were  there  not 
documents  in  existence,  and  hundreds  yet  alive  to  attest  the 
truth  of  my  representations.  I  have  in  vain,  endeavoured  to  ac 
count  for  the  very  few  gentlemen  and  men  of  the  world,  that  at 
this  time  appeared  in  arms  from  this  country,  which  might  be 
considered  as  the  cradle  of  the  revolution.  There  were  some, 
indeed,  in  the  higher  ranks;  and  here  and  there  a  young  man  of 
decent  breeding,  in  the  capacity  of  an  aid-de-carap  or  brigade 
major;  but  any  thing  above  the  condition  of  a  clown,  in  the 
regiments  we  came  in  contact  with,  was  truly  a  rarity.  Was  it, 
that  the  cause  was  only  popular  among  the  yeomanry?  Was  it, 
that  men  of  fortune  and  condition  there,  as  in  other  parts  of  the 
continent,  though  evidently  most  interested  in  a  contest,  whose 
object  was  to  rescue  American  property  from  the  grasp  of  British 
avidity,  were  willing  to  devolve  the  fighting  business  on  the 
poorer  and  humbler  classes  ?  Was  it,  in  short,  that  they  held 
the  language  of  the  world,  and  said, 

"Let  the  gull'd  fools  the  toils  of  war  subdue, 
Where  bleed  the  many  to  enrich  the  few?'' 

Or  was  it,  that  that  simple  way  of  thinking  and  ill  appreciation 
of  military  talent,  which  had  made  a  drivelling  deacon,*  second 

men  "  as  PRESCOTT,  WARREN,  GREENE,  KNOX,  PUTNAM,  LINCOLN,  STARK,  and  SULLI 
VAN  ;  an  ADAMS,  a  HANCOCK,  an  OTIS  and  a  QUINCY,  cannot  be  supposed  to  be  defi 
cient  in  enlightened  patriotic  zeal,  or  in  men  with  '*  hearts  to  do  and  dare,"  all  that 
brave  and  patriotic  men  may  do  and  dare,  in  defence  of  their  liberties  and  rights; 
and  the  page  of  History  glows  with  the  story  of  their  services,  sufferings  and 
worth. — ED. 

*  This  was  General  Ward,*  with  whose  resignation  and  that  of  Brigadier  Frye, 
GENERAL  WASHINGTON  makes  himself  merry  in  a  letter  to  General  Lee,  published 
in  the  Memoirs  of  the  latter.     So  little  does  the  character  of  the  time  appear  to 
be  known  at  present,  that  I  deem  it  necessary  to  fortify  my  remarks. 

*  GENERAL  ARTEMAS  WARD.— He  had  been  appointed,  by  the  Provincial  Con 
gress  of  Massachusetts,  commander  of  all  the  forces  raised  by  that  Colony.     He 
was  the  first  Major-General  in  the  American  army.     He  graduated  at  Harvard, 
in  1748.     "  For  several  years  he  was  an  active  and  useful  member  of  the  General 
Court,  and,  in  1774,  one  of  the  Provincial  Congress.     He  served  in  the  war  pre 
vious  to  the  peace  of  Paris,  and  when  the  Revolutionary  struggle  commenced, 
was   appointed   Major-General,   and   was   even   thought   of  as    Generalissimo. 

14 


158  GENERALS  WARD  AND  FRYE. 

in  command,  was  then  prevalent  among  them  ?  Whatever  was 
the  reason,  New  England  was  far  behind  the  other  provinces  in 
the  display  of  an  ardent,  unequivocal  zeal  for  the  cause,  in  the 
quality  of  her  officers;  and  notwithstanding  that  she  has  since 
shown  herself  more  prolific  of  liberal,  well-informed,  exigent 
men,  than  any  other  part  of  the  union,  her  soldiery,  at  the  time  1 
am  speaking  of,  was  contemptible  in  the  extreme. 

Neither  did  the  fighting  department  appear  to  be  fashionable 
among  the  gentry  of  Virginia.  It  must  be  admitted  that  she 
furnished  some  gentlemen  aids-de-camp  and  volunteers,  and 
afterwards,  corps  of  cavalry,  respectably  officered;  but  the  seri 
ous,  drudging  business  of  war,  devolves  on  the  infantry;  and  in 
this  description  of  force,  she  evinced  but  little  brilliancy.  One 
of  her  regiments,  I  recollect,  did  duty  with  us  when  we  were 
encamped  on  Haerlem  heights.  Its  commander  had  the  ap 
pearance  of  a  reputable  planter,  and  might  for  any  thing  I  know 
to  the  contrary,  have  been  both  patriotic  and  brave ;  but  neither 
himself  nor  his  officers,  were  of  the  kind  that  bespoke  the  elite  of 
their  country  :  they  were  not  in  the  style  of  their  vocation ;  in  a 
word,  they  were  not  Baylors,  nor  Griffins,  nor  Lees,  nor  Mon 
roes.  But  allowing  every  possible  merit  to  these  gentlemen,  it 
does  not  lessen  the  force  of  my  observation  in  respect  to  their 
State,  of  whose  subsequent  exertions,  I  am  ignorant. 

He  commanded  the  troops  at  Cambridge  until  the  arrival  of  WASHINGTON,  when 
lie  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  right  wing  at  Roxbury.  His  firmness  and  in 
trepidity  were  strikingly  displayed  on  various  trying  occasions.  He  resigned  his 
commission  in  April,  1776,  though  at  the  request  of  WASHINGTON  he  continued 
for  some  time  longer  in  command.  He  was  afterwards  chosen  one  of  the  Council 
of  Massachusetts,  where  he  was  distinguished  for  his  integrity  and  independence 
of  spirit.  He  was  elected  to  Congress  on  the  organization  of  the  General  Govern 
ment,  and  died  late  in  the  year  1800,  at  the  age  of  seventy-three." — Enc.  Amer. — 
ED. 

BRIGADIER-GENERAL  JOSEPH  FRYE. — WASHINGTON  writes  concerning  him  to 
Congress,  31st  August,  1775  : — "  He  entered  into  the  service  as  early  as  1745, 
and  rose  through  the  different  military  ranks,  in  the  two  succeeding  wars,  to  that 
of  Colonel.  From  these  circumstances,  together  with  the  favourable  report  made 
to  me  of  him,  I  presume  he  sustained  the  character  of  a  good  officer,  though  I  do 
not  find  it  distinguished  by  any  peculiar  service."  Colonel  Frye  received  from 
Congress  the  appointment  of  Brigadier-General  in  the  Continental  army,  upon 
the  rccomiaer  Cation  of  the  Commander-in-chief. 

He  resigned  l.u,    ommission  in  April,  1776. — ED. 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.  159 

Among  the  mistakes  of  my  life,  in  a  view  to  advancement,  I 
may  justly  reckon  my  not  essaying  the  aid-de-camp  career.  To 
the  rank  and  pay  of  major,  which  followed  the  appointment,  an, 
exemption  from  hard  duty  immediately  took  place,  and  the  for 
tunate  incumbents  had  cause  to  hug  themselves  in  a  world  of 
other  pleasant  consequences.  They,  comparatively,  fed  well  and 
slept  well ;  used  horses  legs  instead  of  their  own,  upon  a  march ; 
and  were,  besides,  in  the  true  road  to  preferment.  The  late  Ge 
neral  Walter  Stewart,*  was  a  younger  Captain  than  myself,  in  the 
same  regiment.  But  he  chose  the  better  path  I  allude  to :  in 
doing  so  he  escaped  captivity,  was  warmly  recommended  to 
Congress  by  his  General,  and  complimented  with  a  regiment, 
while  his  elder  officers  were  languishing  in  captivity,  neglected, 
superseded  and  forgotten.  Captain  Scull,  also,  of  our  regiment, 
had  attached  himself  to  General  Thomson ;  and  the  Colonels  fear 
ing  they  should  lose  more  of  us,  were  assiduous  in  representing 
the  employment  of  an  aid,  as  not  only  unworthy  of  a  man  of 
spirit,  but  as  being  out  of  the  line  of  promotion :  In  the  latter,  at 
least,  they  were  egregiously  mistaken. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence,!  whose  date  will  never  be 

*  Honourable  mention  is  made  ^of  Colonel  Walter  Stewart  by  GENERAL  WASH- 
IXGTON  in  his  letter  of  13th  January,  1780,  to  Lord  Sterling.  Colonel  Stewart 
rendered  valuable  services  at  the  time  of  the  revolt  in  the  Pennsylvania  line, 
which  were  recognised  by  WASHINGTON  and  Wayne. — ED. 

t  The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  read,  in  public,  by  Commodore  Hop 
kins,  from  "  the  platform  of  an  Observatory  which  had  been  erected  by  Ritten- 
house,  at  the  rear  of  the  State  House.  But  few  people  assembled  to  hear  it,  and 
among  these  there  were  no  manifestations  of  enthusiasm.  They  quietly  retired 
at  its  conclusion.  It  was  above  the  comprehension  of  the  mass.  The  principles 
upon  which  it  was  based,  and  the  language  of  the  Declaration  itself,  were  not 
immediately  appreciated  and  understood.  Another  proof  of  what  has  been  else 
where  asserted  in  these  'Memoirs' — that  the  'Revolution  is  universally  admitted 
to  have  begun  in  the  upper  circles  of  society.'  The  apathy,  timidity,  or  igno 
rance,  thus  manifested  at  its  birth-place  was  not  imitated  elsewhere,  and  whatever 
may  have  been  the  reception  of  the  great  intelligence  by  the  army — among  the 
people,  and  nowhere  more  warmly  than  at  Boston,  the  news  was  received,  ac 
cording  to  BOTTA,  'with  transports  of  joy.'  Nor  were  any  of  those  public  demon 
strations  omitted  which  governments  are  accustomed  to  employ,  on  similar 
occasions,  to  conciliate  the  favour  of  the  people.  The  artillery  was  fired,  bonfires 
were  kindled,  the  people  seemed  actually  delirious  with  exultation.  On  the  llth 
of  July,  the  manifesto  of  Congress  was  published  in  New  York,  and  was  read  to 
each  brigade  of  the  American  army,  which,  at  that  time,  was  assembled  in  the 


160  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

forgotten  so  long  as  Liberty  remains  the  fashion,  and  demagogues 
continue  to  thrive  upon  it,  was,  with  the  utmost  speed,  trans 
mitted  to  the  armies ;  and  when  received,  read  to  the  respective 
regiments.  If  it  was  not  embraced  with  all  the  enthusiasm  that 
has  been  ascribed  to  the  event,  it  was  at  least  hailed  with  accla 
mations,  as  no  doubt  any  other  act  of  Congress,  not  flagrantly 
improper,  would  at  that  time  have  been.  The  propriety  of  the 
measure  had  been  little  canvassed  among  us ;  and  perhaps  it  was 
to  our  honour,  considered  merely  as  soldiers,  that  we  were  so 
little  of  politicians.  A  predilection  for  republicanism,  it  is  true, 
had  not  reached  the  army,  at  least  the  Pennsylvania  line ;  but  as 
an  attempt  to  negotiate  in  our  unorganized  situation,  would  pro 
bably  have  divided  and  ruined  us,  the  step  was  considered  wise, 
although  a  passage  of  the  Rubicon,  and  calculated  to  close  the 
door  to  accommodation.  Being  looked  upon  as  unavoidable,  if 
resistance  was  to  be  persisted  in,  it  was  approved ;  and  produced 

vicinity  of  the  city :  it  was  received  with  universal  acclamation.  The  same 
evening  the  statue  of  George  III.,  which  had  been  erected  in  1770,  was  taken 
down  and  dragged  through  the  streets.  It  was  decided  that  the  lead  of  which  it 
was  composed,  should  he  converted  into  musket  balls.  These  excesses,  however 
blameable  in  themselvesx  were  not  without  utility  if  considered  politically ;  they 
excited  the  people  and  hurried  them  on  to  the  object  that  was  desired.  At  Balti 
more,  Independence  having  been  proclaimed  in  the  presence  of  cannoniers  and 
militia,  the  people  could  not  contain  their  enthusiasm.  The  air  resounded  with 
salutes  of  artillery,  and  the  shouts  that  hailed  the  freedom  and  happiness  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  The  effigy  of  the  King  became  the  sport  of  the  popu 
lace,  and  was  afterwards  burnt  in  the  public  square.  The  rejoicings  at  Boston 
were  the  greatest  of  all.  Independence  was  there  proclaimed  from  the  balcony 
of  the  State  House,  in  the  presence  of  all  the  authorities,  civil  and  military,  and 
of  an  immense  concourse  of  people,  as  well  from  the  city  itself  as  from  the  coun 
try.  The  garrison  was  drawn  up  in  order  of  battle  in  King  street,  which  from 
that  moment  took  the  name  of  State  street;  the  troops  formed  in  thirteen 
detachments,  to  denote  the  thirteen  United  States.  At  a  given  signal,  a  salute  of 
thirteen  cannon  was  fired  upon  Fort  Hill,  which  was  immediately  answered  by 
an  equal  number  from  the  batteries  of  the  Castle,  of  the  Neck,  of  Nantasket,  and 
of  Point  Alderton.  The  garrison,  in  their  turn,  fired  thirteen  salutes  of  musketry, 
each  detachment  firing  in  succession.  The  authorities  and  most  considerable 
inhabitants  then  convened  at  a  banquet  prepared  in  the  Council  Chamber.  All 
the  bells  rung  in  token  of  felicitation ;  the  joy  was  universal,  and  its  demonstra 
tions  were  incessantly  renewed.  In  the  evening  all  the  ensigns  of  royalty, 
lions,  sceptres  or  crowns,  whether  sculptured  or  painted,  were  torn  in  pieces  and 
burned." — ED. 


STATUE  OF  GEORGE  III.  DEMOLISHED.  161 

no  resignations  among  the  officers  that  I  am  aware  of,  except  that  of 
Lieutenant-Colonel  William  Allen,  already  mentioned,  who  was 
with  his  regiment  in  Canada.  He  called  at  our  camp  on  his  way 
to  Philadelphia,  where  he  appeared  somewhat  surprised  and  mor 
tified  that  his  example  had  no  followers. 

Being  now  independent,  we  had  no  farther  use  for  a  king,  or 
even  the  semblance  of  one ;  for  which  reason  the  equestrian  sta 
tue  of  George  the  Third,  in  New  York,  was  thrown  down  and 
demolished.  The  head  of  the  King  was  cut  off  by  way  of  in 
flaming  the  public  valour  :  but  so  little  was  the  spirit  of  seventy- 
six  like  the  spirit  of  subsequent  eras,  that  the  act  was  received 
with  extreme  coldness  and  indifference.  Had  even  George  him 
self  been  among  us,  he  would  have  been  in  no  great  danger  of 
personal  injury,  at  least  from  the  army.  We  were,  indeed,  begin-  ^ . 
ning  to  grow  angry  with  him ;  and  were  not  displeased  with 
Paine  for  calling  him  a  royal  brute,  but  we  had  not  yet  acquired 
the  true  taste  for  cutting  throats. 

The  suspense  in  which  we  had  for  many  weeks  been  held,  in 
respect  to  the  meditated  operations  of  the  enemy,  was  at  length 
removed  by  the  landing  of  a  considerable  force  on  the  22d  of 
August,  on  Long  Island.  Among  the  measures  taken  to  counter 
act  him,  hand-bills,  addressed  to  the  German  troops,  inviting  de 
sertion  by  a  promise  of  land,  were  prepared  by  Congress,  and 
endeavoured  to  be  circulated  among  them.  For  this  business, 
Christopher  Ludwig,  a  baker  of  Philadelphia,  was,  among  others, 
selected.  As  he  was  a  German,  and  had  been  a  soldier  in  his 
younger  days,  he  was  supposed  to  be  peculiarly  fitted  for  the 
purpose.  Full  of  zeal  for  the  cause,  he  was  already  at  his  post, 
and  was  bold  enough  to  undertake  the  perilous  employment ;  but 
whether  he  ventured  himself  in  the  enemy's  camp,  I  never  learned. 
I  rather  suspect  he  was  shy,  as  he  well  knew  the  penalty  of 
detection  in  such  an  enterprize.  At  any  rate,  the  overtures  had 
no  effect :  no  deserters  came  over  to  us.  This  Ludwig,  though 
far  advanced  in  years,  could  yet  play  the  old  soldier  with-  much 
address,  and  thence  contrived  to  make  himself  conspicuous.  Be 
ing  employed  some  time  after  to  manage  the  ovens,  he  assumed 
the  title  of  Bakermaster-  General  of  the  army,  and  made  a  vow 
never  to  shave  his  beard  until  a  fortunate  conclusion  of  the  con- 

14* 


162       BAKER-GENERAL THE  BRITISH  LAND  ON  LONG  ISLAND. 

test.*  It  is  a  little  remarkable,  that  the  patriotism  of  the  Baker- 
General  should  have  displayed  itself  in  the  same  manner  as  that 
of  Cato  did,  during  the  civil  war  of  Rome,  who,  as  we  are  in 
formed  by  Lucan,  neither  shaved,  nor  cut  his  hair. 

w  Ut  primum  tolli  feralia  viderat  arma, 
Intonsos  rig-idam  in  frontem  desccndere  canos 
Passus  erat,  mcestamque  genis  increscere  barbam. 

For  when  he  saw  the  fatal  faction's  arm, 

The  coming  war,  and  Rome's  impending  harm  ; 

Regardless  quite  of  every  other  care, 

Unshorn  he  left  his  loose  neglected  hair, 

Rude  hung  the  hoary  honours  of  his  head, 

And  a  foul  growth  his  mournful  cheeks  o'erspread." 

The  forces  of  the  enemy,  which  had  been  landed  on  Long 
Island,  had  extended  themselves  as  far  as  Flatbush  and  New  Lots, 
between  which  places  and  our  works  at  Brooklyn,  runs  a  ridge 
of  pretty  lofty  hills.  Here  it  was,  that  being  met  by  our  troops 
under  the  command  of  Generals  Sullivan  and  Stirling,  the  action 
of  the  27th  of  August  commenced ;  of  which,  as  I  was  not  pre- 

*  Mr.  GraydoEy  on  a  leaf  of  his  private  copy  of  the  Memoirs,  wrote,  "  a  gen- 
tleman  corrects  me,  and  says,  it  was  not  until  a  conclusion  of  the  war,  but  until 
we  regained  possession  of  Philadelphia.  Be  it  so." 

CHRISTOPHER  LUDWICK — the  "  Baker- General" — lies  conspicuously  buried  in 
the  grave-yard  of  St.  Michael's  (Lutheran)  Church,  at  the  upper  end  of  German- 
town.  From  his  monument  we  learn  that  he  was  born  in  Germany,  where  he 
learned  his  "trade  and  business  of  Baker.  In  early  life  he  was  a  soldier  and 
a  sailor,  and  visited  the  East  and  West  Indies.  He  came  to  Philadelphia  in 
1755,  and  by  industry  and  integrity  accumulated  a  handsome  property,  part  of 
which  he  devoted  to  the  service  of  his  adopted  country,  in  the  contest  for  Inde. 
pendence.  Was  appointed  BAker-General  to  the  Army,  and,  for  faithful  services, 
received  a  written,  testimony  from  the  Commander-in-chief.  On  every  occasion 
his  zeal  for  the  relief  of  the  oppressed  was  manifest,  and  by  his  last  will  he 
bequeathed  the  greater  part  of  his  estate  fbr  the  education  of  the  poor,  of  all  de 
nominations,  gratis*  He  lived  and  died  respected  for  his  integrity  and  public 
spiiit.  Reader,,  such  was  LUDWICK.  Art  thou  poor?  venerate  his  Character. 
Art  thou  rich?  imitate  his  Example." 

MR.  LUDWICK  died  in  1801,  aged  nearly  81  years, — In  his  humble  sphere  he 
rendered  faithful  service  in  the  cause  of  Independence  ;  services  which  entitle 
him  to  grateful  remembrance,  and  more  than  justify  a  passing  tribute  to  his 
patriotism  aud  worth. — ED. 


NEW  YORK PRIVATIONS  OF  SOLDIERS.  163 

sent,  I  know  nothing  more  than  is  given  in  the  historical  accounts 
of  this  affair.  The  manifest  superiority  of  the  enemy  on  this  oc 
casion,  owing  more  to  mismanagement,  perhaps,  on  our  side,  than 
want  of  bravery  in  the  troops  engaged,  rendered  it  expedient  to 
draw  our  forces  to  the  point  that  had  been  chosen  for  the  contest ; 
and  an  express  was  accordingly  sent  off,  requiring  the  immediate 
march  of  Shee's  and  Magaw's  regiments  to  New  York.  Being 
forthwith  put  in  motion,  we  proceeded  with  the  utmost  speed, 
and  reached  the  city  in  the  afternoon ;  but  by  this  time  the  con 
flict  was  over,  and  the  firing  had  ceased.  Here,  therefore,  we 
were  quartered  for  the  night,  under  orders  to  be  in  readiness  to 
cross  the  East  river  by  break  of  day  in  the  morning.  Glover's 
regiment  was  also  moved  to  this  place,  and  was  under  similar 
orders  for  Long  Island.  Few  particulars  of  the  day's  combat 
were  yet  known,  though  it  was  pretty  well  ascertained  that  we 
had  been  handled  severely,  and  lost  a  considerable  number  of 
officers  and  men ;  but  what  proportion  had  been  killed,  or  were 
prisoners,  was  merely  conjecture.  New  York  was,  at  this  time, 
a  scene  of  tumult  and  confusion,  and,  it  might  be  added,  of  dis 
may. 

The  circumstances,  however,  did  not  deprive  me  of  my  appe 
tite,  and  the  inclination  for  a  good  supper,  which  I  had  not  for 
some  months  enjoyed;  and  therefore,  as  soon  as  our  men  were 
dismissed  to  their  quarters,  which  was  not  until  dark,  Mr.  Forrest 
and  myself,  set  out  in  pursuit  of  this  object.  But  some  of  the 
public  houses  were  full,  others  had  no  eatables  in  them,  and  we 
began  to  fear,  that  this  little  enjoyment  we  had  promised  our 
selves,  was  not  to  be  obtained ;  and  that  we  should  be  obliged  to 
go  to  bed  supperless.  After  trying  the  best  looking  inns  to  no 
purpose,  we  essayed  those  of  more  humble  appearance,  and  at 
length  entered  one,  that  was  kept  by  a  middle-aged,  matronly 
lady.  We  asked  if  she  could  give  us  supper ;  she  gave  us  the  com 
mon  answer,  that  there  was  nothing  in  the  house.  We  were  now 
about  to  give  the  matter  up,  and  had  retired  beyond  the  door, 
with  somewhat  of  a  disconsolate  air,  perhaps,  when  the  good 
woman  seemed  touched  with  compassion  for  us.  She  had  pro 
bably  sons  of  her  own ;  or  if  not,  she  was  of  that  sex  which, 
Ledyard  tells  us,  is  ever  prone  to  acts  of  kindness  and  humanity. 


164  NEW  YORK PRIVATIONS  OF  SOLDIERS. 

She  called  us  back  and  told  us,  that  she  believed  she  could  make 
out  to  give  us  a  lobster.  At  this  we  brightened  up,  assuring  her, 
as  we  really  thought,  that  nothing  could  be  better :  and  being 
shown  into  a  small,  snug  apartment,  we  called  for  a  pint  of 
wine.  We  now  thought  ourselves,  instead  of  outcasts,  favourites 
of  fortune,  as  upon  comparing  notes  with  our  brother  officers, 
next  day,  we  found  we  had  reason,  since  scarcely  one  of  them 
had  been  able  to  procure  a  mouthful.  Our  lobster  being  quickly 
served  up,  we  fell  to  with  most  excellent  appetites,  and  between 
it  and  our  wine  entirely  forgot  our  toils,  most  fervently  realizing 
the  sentiment  of  the  song,  that  "a  bottle  and  kind  landlady  cure 
all  again" 

On  the  next  day,  early  in  the  forenoon,  we  were  transported  to 
Long  Island ;  marched  down  to  the  entrenchments  at  Brooklyn, 
and  posted  on  their  left  extremity,  extending  to  the  Wallabout. 
The  arrival  of  our  two  battalions,  (Shee's  and  Magaw's,  which 
always  acted  together,)  with  that  of  Glover,  had  the  effect,  I  have 
always  found  to  be  produced,  by  a  body  of  men  under  arms, 
having  the  appearance  of  discipline.  Although,  owing  to  the 
dysentery  which  had  prevailed  in  our  camp,  our  number  was  so 
reduced,  that  the  two  regiments  could  not  have  amounted  to 
more  than  eight  hundred  men,  making  in  the  whole,  when  joined 
with  Glover's,  about  twelve  or  thirteen  hundred ;  yet  it  was  evident 
that  this  small  reinforcement,  inspired  no  inconsiderable  degree  of 
confidence.  The  faces  that  had  been  saddened  by  the  disasters 
of  yesterday,  assumed  a  gleam  of  animation,  on  our  approach ; 
accompanied  with  a  murmur  of  approbation  in  the  spectators  oc 
casionally  greeting  each  other  with  the  remark,  that  "  these,  were 
the  lads  that  might  do  something"  Why  it  should  be  so,  I  know 
not,  but  the  mind  instinctively  attaches  an  idea  of  prowess,  to 
the  silence,  steadiness,  and  regularity  of  a  military  assemblage ; 
and  a  hundred  well  dressed,  well  armed,  and  well  disciplined 
grenadiers,  are  more  formidable  in  appearance,  than  a  disjointed, 
disorderly  multitude  of  a  thousand.  Our  regiments,  to  be  sure, 
could  not  arrogate  such  perfection ;  but  that  they  were  distin 
guished  in  our  young  army,  may  be  inferred,  from  an  official  let 
ter  from  General  WASHINGTON,  wherein,  he  states,  that  "they  had 
been  trained  with  more  than  common  attention."  To  sustain 


LONG  ISLAND ENTRENCHMENTS.  165 

the  duty  now  imposed  upon  us,  required  both  strength  of  body 
and  of  mind.  The  spot  at  which  we  were  posted,  was  low 
and  unfavourable  for  defence.  There  was  a  /raised  ditch  in  its 
front,  but  it  gave  little  promise  of  security,  as  it  was  evidently 
commanded  by  the  ground  occupied  by  the  enemy,  who  entirely 
enclosed  the  whole  of  our  position,  at  the  distance  of  but  a  few 
hundred  paces.  It  was  evident,  also,  that  they  were  constructed 
batteries,  which  would  have  rendered  our  particular  situation  ex 
tremely  ineligible,  to  say  the  least  of  it.  In  addition  to  this  dis 
comfort,  we  were  annoyed  by  a  continual  rain,  which,  though 
never  very  heavy,  was  never  less  than  a  searching  drizzle,  and 
often  what  might,  with  propriety,  be  called  a  smart  shower.  We 
had  no  tents  to  screen  us  from  its  pitiless  pelting ;  nor,  if  we  had 
had  them,  would  it  have  comported  with  the  incessant  vigilance 
required,  to  have  availed  ourselves  of  them,  as,  in  fact,  it  might 
be  said,  that  we  lay  upon  our  arms  during  the  whole  of  our  stay 
upon  the  island.*  In  the  article  of  food,  we  were  little  better  off. 
We  had  indeed,  drawn  provisions,  whose  quality  was  not  to  be 
complained  of.  Our  pickled  pork,  at  least,  was  good ;  but  how 
were  \Ve  to  cook  it.  As  this  could  not  be  done,  it  was  either  to 
be  eaten  as  it  was,  or  not  eaten  at  all;  and  we  found  upon  trial, 
that  boiling  it,  although  desirable,  was  not  absolutely  necessary ; 
and  that  the  article  was  esculent  without  culinary  preparation.  I 
remember,  however,  on  one  of  the  days  we  were  in  this  joyless 
place,  getting  a  slice  of  a  barbacued  pig,  which  some  of  our 
soldiers  had  dressed  at  a  deserted  house  which  bounded  our  lines. 
There  was  an  incessant  skirmishing  kept  up  in  the  day-time 
between  our  riflemen  and  the  enemy's  irregulars;  and  the  tiring 


*  Had  not  this  work  been  written  a  few  years  too  early,  I  might  have  scienti 
fically  talked  of  our  bivouacking;  but  like  the  man  who  had  been  all  his  life 
talking  prose  without  knowing  it,  we,  poor  ignorants ! — had  been  bivouacking 
here  two  nights  without  being  sensible  that  we  were  in  the  performance  of  a 
grand  operation,  become  grand  at  least,  from  the  raking  up,  and  applying  to  it 
of  an  old  obsolete  French  word,  by  the  great  Napoleon  ;  and  which  all  military  men 
since,  are  ambitious  of  being  engaged  in,  for  the  sake  of  employing  in  despatches 
and  private  letters,  this  new  and  fascinating  phrase.  Even  Sir  Walter  Scott  re 
solved  not  to  be  behind  them  in  fashionable  graces,— tells  us  in  his  Waterloo. 

"That  line  so  black 
And  trampled,  marks  the  bivouack." 


166 


SKIRMISHING A  BATTLE  APPREHENDED. 


was  sometimes  so  brisk,  as  to  indicate  an  approaching  general 
engagement.  This  was  judiciously  encouraged  by  General 
WASHINGTON,  as  it  tended  to  restore  confidence  to  our  men,  and 
was,  besides,  showing  a  good  countenance  to  the  foe. 

On  the  morning  after  our  first  night's  watch,  Colonel  Shee 
took  me  aside,  and  asked  me  what.  I  thought  of  our  situation.     I 
could  not  but  say,  I  thought  it  a  very  discouraging  one.     He 
viewed  it  in  the  same  light,  he  said,  and  added,  that  if  we  were 
not  soon  withdrawn    from  it,  we    should    inevitably  be  cut  to 
pieces.     So  impressed  was  he  with  this  conviction,  that  he  de 
sired  me  to  go  to  the  quarters  of  General  Reed,  and  to  request 
him  to  ride  down  to  the  lines,  that  he  might  urge  him  to  propose 
a  retreat  without  loss  of  time.     I  went,  but  could  not  find  him 
at  his  quarters,  or  at  any  of  the  other  places  where  it  was  likely 
he  might  be.     It  was  not  long,  however,  before  he  came  to  our 
station,  and  gave  the  Colonel  an  opportunity  of  conferring  with 
him.     This  day  passed  off" like  the  last,  in  unabating  skirmishing 
and  rain.     After  dark,  orders  were  received  and  communicated 
to  us  regimentally,  to  hold  ourselves  in  readiness  for  an  attack 
upon  the  enemy;  to  take  place  in  the  course  of  the  night. '   This 
excited  much  speculation  among  the  officers,  by  whom  it  was 
considered  a  truly  daring  undertaking,  rendered  doubly  so  from 
the  bad  condition  of  our  arms,  so  long  exposed  to  the  rain:  and 
although  we  had  bayonets,  this  was  not  the  case  with  the  whole 
of  our  force,  upon  whom  we  must  depend  for  support.     It  was 
riot  for  us,  however,  to  object  to  the  measure:  we  were  soldiers, 
and  bound  to  obey.     Several  nuncupative  wills  were  made  upon 
the  occasion,  uncertain  as  it  was,  whether  the  persons  to  whom 
they  were  communicated  would  survive,  either  to  prove  or  to 
execute  them.     I  was  for  a  while  under  the  impression  that  we 
were  to  fight;  and,  in  the  language  of  the  poet,  was  "  stiffening 
my  sinews  and  summoning  up  my  blood,"  for    what,  with  the 
rest,  I  deemed  a  desperate  encounter.     But  when  I  came  to  con 
sider  the  extreme  rashness  of  such  an  attempt,  it  suddenly  flashed 
upon  my  mind,  that  a  retreat  was  the  object ;  and  that  the  order 
for  assailing  the  enemy,  was  but  a  cover  to  the  real  design.     The 
more  I  reflected  upon  it,  the  more  I  was  convinced  that  I  was 
right ;  and  what  had  passed  in  the  morning  with  Colonel  Shee, 


MIDNIGHT  SCENE  IN  CAMP.  167 

served  to  confirm  me  in  my  opinion.  I  communicated  my  con 
jecture  to  some  of  the  officers,  but  they  dared  not  suffer  them 
selves  to  believe  it  well  founded,  though  they  gradually  came 
over  to  my  opinion  ;  and  by  midnight,  they  were,  for  the  most 
part,  converts  to  it.  There  was  a  deep  murmur  in  the  camp 
which  indicated  some  movement;  and  the  direction  of  the  decay 
ing  sounds,  was  evidently  towards  the  river.  About  two  o'clock, 
a  cannon  went  off',  apparently  from  one  of  our  redoubts,  "  piercing 
the  night's  dull  ear,"  with  a  tremendous  roar.  If  the  explosion 
was  within  our  lines,  the  gun  was  probably  discharged  in  the  act  of 
spikingit;  and  itcould  havebeen  no  less  a  matter  of  speculation  to 
the  enemy,  than  to  ourselves.  I  never  heard  the  cause  of  it ;  but 
whatever  it  was,  the  effect  was  at  once  alarming  and  sublime ; 
and  what  with  the  greatness  of  the  stake,  the  darkness  of  the 
night,  the  uncertainty  of  the  design,  and  extreme  hazard  of  the 
issue  whatever  might  be  the  object,  it  would  be  difficult  to  con 
ceive  a  more  deeply  solemn  and  interesting  scene.  It  never  re 
curs  to  my  mind,  but  in  the  strong  imagery  of  the  chorus  of 
Shakspeare's  Henry  the  Vth,  in  which  is  arrayed,  in  appropriate 
gloom,  a  similar  interval  of  dread  suspense  and  awful  expecta 
tion. 

As  our  regiment  was  one  of  those  appointed  to  cover  the  retreat, 
we  were,  of  course,  among  the  last  to  be  drawn  off,  and  it  was 
near  day-break  before  we  received  orders  to  retire.  We  were 
formed  without  delay,  and  had  marched  near  half  way  to  the  river, 
when  it  was  announced  that  the  British  light  horse  were  at  our 
heels.  Improbable  as  was  the  circumstance,  it  was  yet  so  strenu 
ously  insisted  upon,  that  we  were  halted  and  formed,  the  front 
rank  kneeling  with  presented  pikes,  which  we  had  with  us,  to 
receive  the  charge  of  the  supposed  assailants.  None,  however, 
appeared  ;  and  the  alarm  must  have  proceeded  from  the  fear  of 
those  who  gave  it,  magnifying  the  noise  of  a  few  of  our  own  horse 
men  into  that  of  squadrons  of  the  enemy.  We  again  took  up  the 
line  of  march,  and  had  proceeded  but  a  short  distance,  when  the 
head  of  the  battalion  was  halted  a  second  time.  The  orders  we 
had  received  were  erroneous :  We  were  informed  that  we  had 
come  off  too  soon,  and  were  commanded  with  all  expedition  to 


168  RETREAT  TO  NEW  YORK. 

return  to  our  post.*  This  was  a  trying  business  to  young  soldiers ; 
it  was,  nevertheless  strictly  complied  with,  and  we  remained  not 
less  than  an  hour  in  the  lines  before  we  received  the  second  order 
to  abandon  them.f  It  may  be  supposed  we  did  not  linger;  but 
though  we  moved  with  celerity,  we  guarded  against  confusion, 
and  under  the  friendly  cover  of  a  thick  fog,  reached  the  place  of 
embarkation  without  annoyance  from  the  enemy,  who,  had  the 
morning  been  clear,  would  have  seen  what  was  going  on,  and 
been  enabled  to  cut  off  the  greater  part  of  the  rear.  One  of  my 
soldiers  being  too  feeble  to  carry  his  musket,  which  was  too  pre 
cious  to  be  thrown  away,  I  took  it  from  him,  and  found  myself 
able  to  carry  it,  together  with  my  own  fusee.  On  attaining  the 
water,  I  found  a  boat  prepared  for  my  company,  which  immedi 
ately  embarked,  and  taking  the  helm  myself,  I  so  luckily  directed 
the  prow,  no  object  being  discernible  in  the  fog,  that  we  touched 
near  the  centre  of  the  city.  It  was  between  six  and  seven  o'clock, 
perhaps  later,  when  we  landed  at  New  York ;  and  in  less  than  an 
hour  after,  the  fog  having  dispersed,  the  enemy  was  visible  on  the 
shore  we  had  left. 

Next  to  the  merit  of  avoiding  a  scrape  in  war,  is  that  of  a  dex 
terous  extrication  from  it ;  and  in  this  view,  the  removal  of  so 


*  This  is  stated  in  Gordon's  history,  vol.  2,  page  103,  to  have  been  owing  to  a 
mistake  of  Colonel  Scammell,  who  delivered  the  orders  to  General  Mifflin  to  bring 
off  the  whole  covering  party,  instead  of  a  particular  regiment. 

t  This  circumstance  is  noted  by  General  HEATH  in  his  Memoirs : — "  In  this 
retreat  from  the  Island,  and  which  was  well  conducted,  an  instance  of  discipline 
and  of  true  fortitude  was  exhibited  by  the  American  guards  and  pickets.  In 
order  that  the  British  should  not  get  knowledge  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  Ameri 
cans,  until  their  main  body  had  embarked  in  the  boats  and  pushed  off  from  the 
shore,  (a  matter  of  the  highest  importance  to  their  safety,)  the  guards  were 
ordered  to  continue  at  their  respective  posts,  with  sentinels  alert,  as  if  nothing 
extraordinary  was  taking  place,  until  the  troops  had  embarked :  they  were  then 
to  come  off,  march  briskly  to  the  ferry,  and  embark  themselves.  But  the  guard 
came  off,  and  had  nearly  reached  the  landing-place,  when  they  were  ordered  to 
face  about,  march  back,  and  re-occupy  their  former  posts ;  which  they  instantly 
obeyed,  and  continued  at  them,  until  called  off  to  cross  the  ferry.  Whoever  has 
seen  troops  in  a  similar  situation,  or  duly  contemplates  the  human  heart  in  such 
trials,  well  know  how  to  appreciate  the  conduct  of  these  brave  men,  on  this  occa 
sion." — ED. 


EEFLECTIONS  ON  THE  MEASURE.  169 

great  a  number  of  men,  stated  I  think  at  nine  thousand,  with  can 
non  and  stores,  in  one  night,  was,  no  doubt,  a  masterly  move 
ment,  though  not  classible  perhaps  with  the  great  retreats.  The 
Memoirs  of  the  Duke  of  Sully  relate  an  operation  very  similar  to 
it,  and  to  which  much  applause  is  given.  This  was  achieved  by 
the  Prince  of  Parma,  whose  army,  lying  between  Rouen  and 
Caudebec,  was  in  the  night  transported  across  the  Seine,  and  thus 
preserved  from  the  destruction  that  impended  from  the  forces  of 
Henry  the  IVth,  ready  to  fall  upon  it  in  the  morning*  "  Could  it 
appear  otherwise,"  observes  the  writer,  "than  a  fable  or  an  illu* 
sion  ?  Scarce  could  the  king  and  his  army  trust  the  evidence  of 
their  own  eyes." 

After  a  comfortable  breakfast,  which  I  got  at  the  coffee-house, 
I  met  with  Colonel  Melchior  of  the  commissary  department. 
Being  one  of  my  old  and  particular  Philadelphia  acquaintances, 
he  offered  me  his  bed  to  repair  my  want  of  rest.  I  had  not  slept 
for  two  nights ;  and  as  my  brother,  a  lad  of  about  nineteen  and 
an  ensign  in  the  regiment,  had  undergone  the  same  fatigue,  I  took 
him  along  with  me,  and  locking  the  door  of  the  apartment  to  ex 
clude  intruders,  we  snatched  a  refreshing  nap  of  five  or  six  hours : 
after  which,  we  felt  ourselves  alert  and  ready  for  the  farther  tasks 
which  duty  might  impose. 

General  WASHINGTON  has  been  censured  for  risking  his  army 
upon  Long  Island,  and  General  Howe  for  permitting  it  to  escape 
with  impunity.*  Reasoning  from  the  facts  which  have  evolved, 
the  blame  in  both  cases,  seems  to  be  well  founded.  But  this  is  not 
the  mode  of  judging  contingent  events.  In  conducting  the  war 
on  our  side,  a  great  variety  of  interests  was  to  be  consulted.  Our 

*  SPARKS  ascribes  the  unfortunate  issue  of  the  Battle  of  Long  Island,  "to  the 
illness  of  General  GREENE.  He  had  superintended  the  erection  of  the  military 
works,  and  become  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  grounds.  In  the  hope  of  his 
recovery,  WASHINGTON  deferred  sending  over  a  successor,  till  the  urgency  of 
affairs  made  it  absolutely  necessary ;  and  then  General  PUTNAM  took  the  com- 
mand,  without  any  previous  knowledge  of  the  posts  which  had  been  fortified  be 
yond  the  lines)  or  of  the  places  by  whidi  the  enemy  would  make  their  approach; 
nor  had  he  time  to  acquire  this  knowledge  before  the  action.  The  consequence 
was,  that,  although  he  was  the  commander  on  the  day  of  the  battle,  he  never  went 
beyond  the  lines  at  Brooklyn,  and  could  give  no  other  orders  than  for  sending  out 
troops  to  meet  the  enemy  at  different  points."— ED. 

15 


170  WASHINGTON  VINDICATED. 

cities,  were,  if  possible  to  be  maintained,  and  no  property  to  be 
sacrificed  without  the  most  manifest  necessity,  lest  it  might  create 
disgust  and  disaffection.  Congress,  also,  was  to  be  obeyed ;  in 
which  body,  no  doubt,  there  was  enough  of  local  feeling.  Hence, 
New  York  must  be  defended ;  and  if  so,  there  was  nothing  wrong  in 
risking  an  action  on  Long  Island  ;  it  was  even  better  than  awaiting 
it  in  the  city.  Add  to  this,  that  the  combatants  had  not  yet 
measured  arms  wTith  each  other ;  and  General  WASHINGTON  was 
not  without  ground  for  hope,  that  his  troops  would  prove  equal 
to  the  invaders.  He  knew  the  British  were  not  invincible.  He 
had  even  seen  them  panic  struck  under  Braddock  and  Dunbar, 
and  was  aware  of  their  having  been  staggered  by  a  handful  of 
irregulars  at  Bunker's  hill.  But  it  is  sufficient  for  his  exculpation, 
that  the  necessity  of  attempting  the  defence  of  New  York,  was  too 
imperious  to  be  dispensed  with.  Otherwise,  there  can  be  no 
question,  that  with  the  unpromising  army  he  commanded,  he 
should  have  been  extremely  cautious  of  committing  himself  in 
insular  posts.  No  General  will,  of  choice,  convert  his  army  into  a 
garrison,  and  invite  a  siege.  Had  this  been  done  at  New  York, 
General  Howe,  by  blockading  it,  would  soon  have  reduced  us  to 
the  necessity  of  starving,  surrendering,  or  fighting  our  way  out 
again;  a  few  batteries  and  redoubts  do  not  render  a  place  capable 
of  sustaining  a  siege,  or  had  he  preferred  an  assault,  what  fortifi 
cations  were  there  to  justify  the  assertion,  that  it  was  tenable  for 
a  single  day  ? 

As  to  General  Howe,  I  have  scarce  a  doubt  that  he  might  have 
carried  the  entrenchments  at  Brooklyn,  and  cut  off  the  troops 
posted  there.  Even  without  intercepting  with  his  ships  of  war, 
the  passage  of  East  river,  the  retreat  across  it  would  have  been 
sufficiently  difficult  and  tardy,  to  have  rendered  the  loss  of  much 
the  greater  portion  of  our  army  inevitable.  That  the  works  would 
have  been  well  defended  and  cost  him  a  great  many  men,  can 
neither  be  affirmed  nor  denied.  The  feelings  of  raw  troops  are 
too  uncertain  to  be  calculated  upon ;  and  considering  what  had 
recently  happened,  it  is  rather  to  be  presumed,  that  the  defence 
would  not  have  been  obstinate.  But  General  Howe,  it  should  be 
remembered,  was  yet  a  stranger  to  our  circumstances  and  the 
character  of  our  force.  Though  he  had  just  vanquished  a  part  of 


GENERAL  HOWE CONDUCT  OF  THE  BRITISH.  171 

it  in  the  open  field,  the  remainder  was  behind  entrenchments,  sup 
ported  by  redoubts ;  and  he  had  cause  for  being  cautious  from 
what  had  happened  at  Bunker's  hill.  Besides,  he  probably 
reasoned  as  we  at  first  did,  that  our  losses  might  be  more  easily 
supplied  than  his  own ;  and,  from  the  boldness  of  Congress  in 
declaring  independence  in  defiance  of  the  concentrated  power  of 
Britain,  he  had  certainly  grounds  to  conclude,  that  their  resources 
were  great  and  their  army  extremely  numerous.  In  addition  to 
these  considerations,  he  had  no  reason  to  calculate  on  our  pre 
cipitate  retreat.  He  was  preparing  to  attack  us  under  the  cover 
of  batteries ;  and,  in  that  case,  might  have  been  enabled  to  destroy 
the  rear  of  our  force  with  little  loss  to  himself.  It  must,  however, 
be  admitted,  that  the  character  of  Sir  William's  Generalship  rather 
savoured  of  caution  than  enterprise. 


112  AMERICANS  ABANDON  NEW  YORK. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Americans  abandon  New  York. — Take  post  at  Fort  Washington.— Character  of 
Officers. — Fire  in  New  York. — Putnam. — Greene. — Promotions. — Fort  Wash 
ington  threatened. — Summoned  by  General  Howe. — Americans  attacked  and 
retire. — Account  of  the  Engagement. 

ON  the  thirty-first  of  August,  the  day  after  the  retreat  from 
Long  Island,  we  marched  beyond  King's-bridge  towards  the 
Sound,  and  crossing  the  Brunx,  encamped  about  eighteen  or 
or  twenty  miles  from  the  city  of  New  York.  I  say  encamped, 
though,  in  fact  we  had  no  canopy  but  the  sky,  and  nothing  be 
tween  our  bodies  and  the  earth,  but  the  clothes  we  had  on,  and 
the  blanket  which  each  of  us  carried  along  with  him.  We  might, 
however,  have  lodged  comfortably  on  the  green  sward,  had  not 
the  imaginations  of  some  of  our  party  been  still  haunted  by  light 
horse ;  an  alarm  having  been  given  in  the  night,  whether  in  jest 
or  earnest,  I  cannot  say,  that  they  had  assailed  us  again.  But 
it  turned  out  to  be  nothing  more  than  the  scampering  of  a  few 
colts,  that  were  probably  equally  alarmed  at  seeing  so  many  two- 
legged  intruders  extended  on  their  feeding  grounds. 

My  memory  does  not  enable  me  to  say  how  long  we  remained 
at  this  place;  but  I  recollect  we  were  soon  joined  by  a  portion 
of  the  army,  among  which  was  the  regiment  of  Hazlet  from  De 
laware.  When  the  post  was  sufficiently  strengthened  to  observe 
the  motions  of  the  enemy  hovering  in  the  Sound,  and  threaten 
ing  the  country  about  Frogs-point,  we  retook  our  old  ground  at 
Fort  Washington.  While  here,  we  acted  in  detachment  at  Mor- 
risania,  then  menaced  by  a  body  of  the  British,  which  had  been 
thrown  into  Buchanan's  and  Montresors  islands,  lying  in  the 
mouth  of  Haerlem  river,  within  two  hundred  or  a  hundred  and 
fifty  yards  of  the  main  land.  I  recollect,  at  least,  that  their  serx-^ 


TAKE  POST  AT  FORT  WASHINGTON.  173 

tinels  appeared  to  be  within  gun-shot,*  and  that,  one  day,  I  had 
considerable  difficulty  in  restraining  Captain  Miller  of  Magaw's 
regiment,  who  carried  a  rifle,  from  shooting  one  of  them,  which 
he  had  no  doubt  he  could  do.  This  was  a  kind  of  warfare 
which  appeared  to  me  both  cruel  and  useless ;  and  I  reprobated  it 
so  earnestly,  that  for  this  time,  I  turned  Miller  from  his  purpose. 
But  the  carrying  a  rifle,  is  too  apt  to  create  an  appetite  for  the 
savage  mode  of  warfare  which  does  its  work  in  concealment ; 
and  makes  a  merit  of  destroying  the  enemy  whenever  and  where- 
ever  he  may  be  found. 

At  the  time  of  these  movements,  the  main  army  very  impro 
perly  still  lingered  at  New  York.  There  cannot  remain  a  doubt, 
that  this  city  should  have  been  evacuated,  as  soon  as  possible, 
after  the  quitting  of  Long  Island.  This  was  as  obvious  to  me 
then  as  it  is  now,  and  I  had  backed  my  opinion  with  the  bet  of 
a  beaver  hat,  that  there  would  be  no  attempt  to  defend  it.  It 

*  GENERAL  HEATH  states  that  "  the  chain  of  sentinels  within  half  gun-shot  of 
each  other,  were  planted  from  one  side  of  the  shore  to  the  other,  and  near  the 
water  passage  between  Morrisania  and  Montresors  Island,  which  in  some 
places  is  very  narrow.  The  sentinels  on  the  American  side  were  ordered  not  to 
fire  at  those  of  the  British,  unless  the  latter  began;  but  the  British  were  so  fond 
of  beginning,  that  there  was  frequently  a  firing  between  them.  This  having  been 
the  case  one  day,  and  a  British  officer  walking  along  the  bank  on  the  Montresors 
side,  an  American  sentinel,  who  had  been  exchanging  some  shots  with  a  British 
sentinel,  seeing  the  officer,  and  concluding  him  to  be  better  game,  gave  him  a  shot 
and  wounded  him.  He  was  carried  up  to  ths  house  on  the  island.  An  officer 
with  a  flag  soon  came  down  to  the  creek,  and  called  for  the  American  officer  of 
the  picket,  and  informed  him,  that  if  the  American  sentinels  fired  any  more,  the 
commanding  officer  on  the  island  would  cannonade  Colonel  MORRIS'  house  in 
which  the  officers  of  the  picket  were  quartered.  The  American  officer  immedi 
ately  sent  to  our  General  to  inquire  what  answer  should  be  returned.  He  was 
directed  to  inform  the  British  officer,  that  the  American  sentinels  had  always 
been  instructed  not  to  fire  on  sentinels,  unless  they  were  first  fired  upon,  and 
then  to  return  the  fire  ;  that  such  would  be  their  conduct:  as  to  the  cannonading 
of  Colonel  MORRIS'  house,  they  might  act  their  pleasure.  The  firing  ceased  for 
some  time,  but  a  raw  Scotch  sentinel,  having  been  planted  one  day,  he  very  soon 
after  discharged  his  piece  at  an  American  sentinel,  nearest  to  him,  which  was 
immediately  returned.  This  brought  down  a  British  officer,  who,  calling  to  the 
American  officers,  observed,  that  'he  thought  there  was  to  be  no  firing  between 
sentinels.'  He  was  answered  that  their  own  began.  » He  shall  then  pay  for  it.' 
The  sentinel  was  directly  after  relieved,  and  the  firing  ceased,  the  sentinels  be 
coming  so  civil  to  each  other,  as  to  supply  each  other  with  tobacco  by  throwing  it 
across  the  stream."— ED. 

15* 


174  NEW  YORK  ABANDONED. 

appears  from  documents  since  published,  that  it  was  the  opinion 
of  the  Commander-in-chief,  that  it  should  be  abandoned,  as  well 
as  of  other  officers  in  whom  he  principally  confided,  though  not 
of  the  majority  of  the  council  of  war.  Not  long  after,  however, 
the  propriety  of  the  measure  became  so  apparent,  that  it  was  uni 
versally  concurred  in,  and  the  place  was  given  up,  though  not 
without  a  considerable  loss  of  stores.  Previously  to  this  opera 
tion,  our  numbers  had  been  much  reduced  by  the  desertion  of 
great  bodies  of  the  militia,  and  some  of  the  other  troops  that  had 
been  infected  by  their  bad  example,  as  appears  from  the  letters 
of  the  General.  A  greater  loss  than  themselves,  was  that  of  the 
arms  and  ammunition  they  took  away  with  them.  I  very  well 
recollect,  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  post  a  guard  at  King's- 
bridge  to  stop  the  fugitives  ;  and  that  upon  one  of  them  being 
arrested  with  a  number  of  notions  in  a  bag,  there  was  found 
among  them,  a  cannon  ball,  which, he  said,  he  was  taking  home 
to  his  mother  for  the  purpose  of  pounding  mustard.  Such  was 
the  story;  and  though  I  was  not  a  witness  of  the  fact,  I  can 
vouch  for  its  being  entirely  in  character.  An  instance  of  shame 
ful  cowardice  was  also  given  by  Parson's  and  Fellow's  brigades 
(in  which,  their  Generals,  however,  were  not  implicated)  as  men 
tioned  in  an  official  letter  of  the  16th  of  September:  on  this  oc 
casion  I  have  understood  that  the  General  lost  all  patience, 
throwing  his  hat  upon  the  ground  in  a  transport  of  rage  and  in 
dignation.*  A  day  or  two  after  this  dastardly  affair,  better 
conduct  was  shown  by  some  companies  of  Colonel  Weedon's 
regiment  from  Virginia,  and  some  rangers  composed  of  volun 
teers  from  different  New  England  regiments  under  the  command 
of  Major  Leitch  and  Colonel  Knolton,  both  of  whom  were  mor 
tally  wounded. 

The  army  now  took  a  position  upon  the  high  grounds  sur 
rounding  Fort  Washington,  comprehending  the  heights  of  Haer- 

*  According  to  General  HEATH,  this  was  on  the  15th  of  September.  He  says, 
kt  Here  the  Americans,  we  are  sorry  to  say,  did  not  behave  well  ,  and  here  it  was 
as  fame  hath  said;  that  GENERAL  WASHINGTON  threw  his  hat  on  the  ground,  ex 
claiming  'arc  these  the  men  with  which  I  am  to  defend  America  !'  But  several 
things  may  have  weight  here;— the  wounds  received  on  Long  Island  were  yet 
bleeding;  rnd  the  officers,  if  not  the  men,  knew  that  the  city  was  not  to  be  de 
fended." — En. 


FORT  WASHINGTON.  175 

lem  and  the  difficult  pass  towards  King's-bridge.  A  double  row 
of  lines  was  thrown  up,  nearly  extending  from  Haerlem  river  to 
the  Hudson,  on  the  south,  looking  towards  New  York,  of  which 
General  Howe  was  now  in  possession.  General  WASHINGTON 
appears  to  have  had  a  good  opinion  of  this  post:  but  though 
certainly  strong  by  nature  and  improved  by  entrenchments  in  its 
most  accessible  parts,  its  eligibility,  for  any  other  purpose,  than 
that  of  a  temporary  encampment,  was  very  questionable.  It  was 
liable  to  the  same  objection,  as  the  posts  of  Brooklyn  and  New 
York.  It  was  only  open  to  the  country  on  the  side  of  King's- 
bridge;  and  consequently,  the  slightest  demonstrations  of  the 
adversary,  in  that  quarter,  must  have  induced  its  abandonment, 
unless  we  should  have  been  disposed  for  an  encounter  of  similar 
difficulties  to  those,  from  which  we  were  just  extricated,  and 
again  trying  the  fortune  of  an  escape  across  a  river  under  the 
very  paws  of  the  enemy.  But  the  idea,  about  this  time,  seems 
to  have  been  taken  up  of  making  our  resistance,  a  war  of  posts; 
or  of  disputing  inch  by  inch,  our  ground.  This  sort  of  war,  how 
ever,  when  referring  to  the  operations  of  a  weaker  army,  in  a 
country  without  regular  fortresses,  appears  to  be  scarcely  practi 
cable,  unless  it  should  have  the  good  fortune  to  be  protected  by 
a  succession  of  Therm opyles.  There  are  few  posts  which  may 
not  be  turned  and  blockaded  by  a  superior  force  ;  and  the  expe 
rience  of  a  campaign  is  sufficient  to  evince  the  fallacy  of  sup 
posing  a  position  to  be  good  merely  because  its  approaches  are 
difficult.*  The  impropriety  of  remaining  in  the  present  one,  was 
immediately  perceived  by  Lee,  who  joined  us  about  the  middle 
of  October.  He  declared  at  once  against  the  policy  of  having 
any  thing  to  do  with  the  islands,  about  which  we  ha  I  been 
clinging  so  pertinaciously ;  and  with  a  figure  somewhat  too  bold 
for  the  genius  of  our  patriotism,  exclaimed,  that  <:he  would  give 
Mr.  Howe  a  fee-simple  in  them." 

*  This  opinion  is  corroborated  by  General  Sarrazin's  observations  in  his  His 
tory  of  the  War  in  Russia  and  Germany,  on  the  post  of  Borodino,  tending  to  show 
the  facility  of  manoeuvring  Kutnsoff  out.  of  it,  and,  of  course,  the  impropriety  of 
attacking  such  posts,  if  strong,  since  the  holders  of  them  may  always  be  forced 
to  abandon.  To  prove  the  justice  of  his  assertion,  he  quotes  Kutusoflfs  letter  to 
the  Emperor  Alexander. 


176  BRITISH  ADVANCE — AMERICAN  TACTICS. 

But  before  we  permit  ourselves  to  arraign  the  conduct  of  the 
Commander-in-chief,  we  ought  to  obtain  a  clear  idea,  of  what 
his  operations  should  have  been.  Because,  inferior  to  the  foe, 
was  he,  therefore,  to  have  kept  at  an  awful  distance  from'him? 
Would  this  have  satisfied  the  country,  or  promoted  the  cause  it 
had  in  hand?  It  had  been  buoyed  up  into  an  exalted  opinion 
of  its  prowess;  and  thence  expected  fighting,  if  not  victories. 
To  have  wholly  shunned  the  conflict  then,  would  have  been  a 
confession  of  a  weakness,  which,  as  the  people  were  not  pre 
pared  for,  it  was  dangerous  to  expose:  It  would  have  been  too 
sudden  a  descent  from  the  high  ground  of  independence.* 

*  Congress,  in  October,  had  resolved,  "  that  Fort  Washington  be  retained  as 
long  as  possible."  "  This  decision,"  says  Sparks,  "  appears  to  have  been  partly 
in  consequence  of  a  resolve  of  Congress,  passed  five  days  before,  desiring  Gene 
ral  WASHINGTON  vby  every  art,  and  at  whatever  expense,  to  obstruct  effectually 
the  navigation  of  the  river  between  Fort  Washington  and  Mount  Constitution, 
as  well  to  prevent  the  regress  of  the  enemy's  frigates  lately  gone  up,  as  to  hinder 
them  from  receiving  succour.'  On  the  following  November,  WASHINGTON  wrote 
to  GREENE,  then  at  Fort  Lee,  expressing  his  conviction,  that  the  enemy  would 
invest  Fort  Washington,  and  adding,  'I  must  recommend  to  you  to  give  every 
attention  in  your  power,  and  all  the  assistance  you  can,  to  that  garrison.'  In  a 
letter  to  General  GREENE,  dated  8th  November,  1776,  General  WASHINGTON  writes^ 
'If we  cannot  prevent  vessels  from  passing  up,  and  the  enemy  are  possessed  of 
the  surrounding  country,  what  valuable  purpose  can  it  answer  to  attempt  to  hold 
a  post,  from  which  the  expected  benefit  cannot  be  had  ?  I  am,  therefore,  inclined 
to  think,  that  it  will  not  be  prudent  to  hazard  the  men  and  stores  at  Fort  Wash 
ington;  but,  as  you  are  on  the  spot,  I  leave  it  to  you  to  give  such  orders  as  to  its- 
evacuation,  as  you  may  judge  best,  and  so  far  revoking  the  order  given  to  Colo 
nel  MAGAW  to  defend  it  to  the  last.' " 

On  the  10th  of  the  same  month,  in  a  letter  to  General  LEE,  he  announces,  that 
Colonel  MAGAW  "finding  there  was  no  prospect  of  retreating  across  the  North 
River,  surrendered  the  post."  The  loss  of  killed  and  wounded  was  not  then 
known,  but  WASHINGTON  believed  it  to  have  been  considerable,  from  the  length 
and  severity  of  the  engagement.  In  a  subsequent  letter  he  says,  "  Colonel  MAGAW 
could  not  get  the  men  to  man  the  lines,  otherwise  he  would  not  have  given  up  the 
Fort."  The  garrison  at  Fort  Washington  consisted  of  four  Colonels,  four  Lieute 
nant-Colonels,  five  Majors,  forty-six  Captains,  one  hundred  and  seven  Lieutenants, 
thirty-one  Ensigns,  one  Chaplain,  two  Adjutants,  two  Quarter-masters,  five  Sur 
geons,  two  Commissaries,  one  Engineer,  one  Wagon-master,  and  2607  privates. 
The  censure  that  has  been  cast  upon  the  Commander-in-chief  in  connexion  with 
this  surrender,  prompts  the  extension  of  this  note  beyond  what,  under  other  cir 
cumstances,  might  be  considered  its  proper  limit.  Like  every  other  action  of  his 
life,  the  lapse  of  time,,  and  the  collection  and  concentration  of  authentic  know;. 


BRITISH  ADVANCE AMERICAN  TACTICS.  177 

About  the  middle  of  October,  General  Howe  having  drawn  his 
main  body  to  Frog's-point,  the  immediate  necessity  of  a  removal 
of  our  army  from  its  present  post  became  apparent;  and  was 
resolved  on  accordingly.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  without 
ascribing  an  extreme  want  of  discernment  to  our  counsels,  but 
that  the  danger  of  remaining  on  a  strip  of  land  embarrassed  by 
the  Hudson  and  the  Sound,  must  have  been  perceived  and  duly 
estimated,  before  the  arrival  of  General  Lee.  Nevertheless  it 
seems  to  have  been  considered,  that  by  hovering  about  New 
York,  restricting  the  limits  of  the  enemy,  and  thereby  obliging 
him  to  have  recourse  to  counteracting  movements,  the  campaign 
might  be  consumed  in  fruitless  operations.  This  mode  of  pro 
ceeding,  extremely  perilous,  and  only  harassing  to  ourselves,  may 
probably  be  referred  in  part  to  a  proud  military  spirit,  which 


ledge,  exhibits  still  more  conspicuously,  the  wisdom  and  ability  which  always 
characterized  his  proceedings.  In  a  letter  to  President  REED,  dated  22d  August, 
1779,  caused,  says  Sparks,  "by  the  tenour  of  Mr.  Reed's  letter,  and  by  General 
LEE'S  Queries  respecting  the  capture  of  Fort  Washington,  which  were  designed 
to  cast  blame  and  disparagement  upon  the  Commander-in-chief" — General  WASH 
INGTON  thus  wrote:  "When  I  came  to  Fort  Lee,  and  found  no  measures  taken 
towards  an  evacuation,  in  consequence  of  the  order  before  mentioned ;  when  I 
found  General  GREENE,  of  whose  judgment  and  candour  I  entertained  a  good 
opinion,  decidedly  opposed  to  it ;  when  I  found  other  opinions  so  coincident  with 
his;  when  the  wishes  of  Congress  to  obstruct  the  navigation  of  the  North  River, 
which  were  delivered  in  such  forcible  terms,  recurred ;  when  I  knew  that  the 
easy  communication  between  the  different  parts  of  the  army,  then  separated  by 
the  river,  depended  upon  it ;  and,  lastly,  when  I  considered  that  our  policy  led  us 
to  waste  the  campaign  without  coming  to  a  general  action  on  the  one  hand,  or  suf 
fering  the  enemy  to  overrun  the  country  on  the  other,  I  conceived  that  every  im 
pediment,  that  stood  in  their  way,  was  a  means  to  answer  these  purposes  ; — these, 
when  thrown  into  the  scale  with  those  opinions,  which  were  opposed  to  an  eva 
cuation,  caused  that  warfare  in  my  mind,  and  hesitation,  which  ended  in  the  loss 
of  the  garrison  ;  and,  being  repugnant  to  my  own  judgment  of  the  advisablencss 
of  attempting  to  hold  the  post,  filled  me  with  the  greater  regret.  The  two  great 
causes  which  led  to  this  misfortune,  and  which  I  have  before  recited,  as  well, 
perhaps  as  my  reasoning  upon  it,  which  occasioned  the  delay,  were  concealed 
from  public  view,  and  of  course  left  the  field  of  censure  quite  open  for  any  and 
every  labourer,  who  inclined  to  work  in  it;  and  afforded  a  fine  theme  for  the  pen 
of  a  malignant  writer  who  is  less  regardful  of  facts  than  of  the  point  he  wants  to 
establish,  where  he  has  the  field  wholly  to  himself,  where  concealment  of  a  few 
circumstances  answers  his  purposes,  or  where  a  small  transposition  of  them  will 
give  a  very  different  complexion  to  the  same  thing." — ED. 


178 


FIRE  IN  NEW  YORK. 


could  not  brook  the  supposed  disgrace  of  flying  before  the  foe,  and 
in  part  to  that  prime  source  of  our  disasters,  short  enlistments  and 
the  militia  system.  For  want  of  a  permanent  established  force, 
which  would  have  placed  our  cause  above  the  reach  of  vulgar 
opinion,  the  public  mind  was  perpetually  to  be  consulted.  The 
popularity  of  the  measure  declaratory  of  independence  was  sus 
pended  on  our  chance  of  success;  and  this  would  principally  be 
estimated  by  the  ground  we  maintained  or  lost.  Hence,  as  every 
acre  had  its  political  value,  the  defensive  warfare  on  the  large 
scale,  could  not  safely  be  adopted;  nor  for  that  reason,  can  the 
Fabian  fame,  of  "never  having  yielded  the  public  safety  to 
clamour."  be  fully  ascribed  to  General  WASHINGTON. 

While  the  main  army  remained  at  the  heights  of  Haerlem,  a 
period  of  five  weeks,  from  about  the  middle  of  September  to  the 
middle  of  October,  we  (Shee's  and  Magaw's  regiments)  consti 
tuted  a  part  of  it,  and  did  duty  accordingly.  It  was  my  chance 
to  be  on  guard  on  the  night  of  the  fire  at  New  York,*  on  the 
picket,  advanced  about  a  mile  in  front  of  our  lines.  For  a  con 
siderable  extent,  the  heavens  appeared  in  flames,  and  from  the 
direction  of  the  light,  I  could  not  doubt  there  was  a  conflagra 
tion  in  the  city.  I  might  have  been  distant  from  it  about  nine 
miles;  and  had  not  my  situation  been  overlooked  by  a  hill  di 
rectly  in  front,  the  cause  might  perhaps  have  been  distinctly  de 
veloped.  Whether  this  fire  was  produced  by  accident  or  design, 
has  never,  I  believe,  been  ascertained.  By  the  British  it  was 
considered  as  proceeding  from  us.  A  few  weeks  after,  having, 
for  some  purpose  which  I  do  not  recollect,  been  sent,  together 
with  Captain  Beatty,  with  a  flag,  we  talked  with  the  officer  who 
met  us,  about  the  extent  of  the  fire  and  its  cause.  He  said  he 
was  unacquainted  with  the  cause,  but  presumed  Mr.  WASHING 
TON'S  people  knew  more  about  it  than  they  did.f 

The  antipathy  prevailing  between  the  southern  and  eastern 
troops,  had  been  the  cause  of  a  court  martial,  of  which  I  was  a 

*  Tliis  it  appears  from  General  HEATH'S  "  Memoirs,"  was  on  the  night  between 
the  20th  and  21st  of  September. 

t  This  officer  was  right  according  to  Judge  Henry.  See  his  account  of  this 
fire,  page  185,  of  his  "Campaign  against  Quebec." 


COURT  MARTIAL.  179 

member,  upon  the  conduct  of  Lieutenant  Stewart,  of  SmallwoocPs 
regiment,  better  known  by  his  subsequent  title  of  Major  Jack 
Stewart.  He  had  been  arrested  by  General  Silliman,  on  account 
of  some  alleged  disrepect  or  disobedience  to  that  officer.  As  the 
majority  of  the  court  were  southern  men,  it  was  not  at  all  won 
derful  that  Stewart  was  soon  acquitted  with  honour.  In  so  con 
temptible  a  light  were  the  New  England  men  regarded,  that  it 
was  scarcely  held  possible  to  conceive  a  case,  which  could  be 
construed  into  a  reprehensible  disrespect  of  them.  Thinking  so 
highly  as  I  now  do  of  the  gentlemen  of  this  country,  the  recollec 
tion  is  painful,  but  the  fact  must  not  be  dissembled:  Even  the 
celebrated  General  Putnam,  riding  with  a  hanger  belted  across 
his  brawny  shoulders,  over  a  waistcoat  without  sleeves  (his  sum 
mer  costume)  was  deemed  much  fitter  to  head  a  band  of  sickle- 
men  or  ditchers,  than  musketeers.  He  might  be  brave,  and  had 
certainly  an  honest  manliness  about  him ;  but  it  was  thought,  and 
perhaps  with  reason,  that  he  was  not  what  the  time  required. 
We  had  a  regular  army  to  oppose,  and  this  could  only  be  done 
by  discipline  and  regular  soldiership.*  Neither  did  General 


*  Mr.  Graydon  in  a  note,  writes:  "That  General  PUTNAM  was  deficient  in 
these  points,  may  be  inferred  from  the  following  passage  in  a  letter  dated  15th 
January,  1777,  from  General  WASHINGTON  to  General  REED:  'Many  days  ago  I 
wrote  to  General  PUTNAM,  supposing  him  to  be  at  Princeton.  What  he  can  be 
doing  at  Crosswicks,  I  know  not,  after  my  repeated  wishes  to  hear  of  him  at 
Princeton.  Surely  he  is  there  by  this  time!'  " 

The  quotation  from  General  WASHINGTON'S  letter  certainly  authorizes  no  such 
inference  ;  and  the  sneer  of  our  author  is  unjust.  General  PUTNAM,  always  distin 
guished,  proved  himself  equal  to  every  emergency,  and  this,  notwithstanding  his 
defective  education,  which,  in  truth,  was  extremely  restricted.  He  was  bred,  from 
his  earliest  boyhood,  to  agricultural  pursuits.  If  wanting  in  polish,  which,  from 
the  nature  of  his  occupations,  may  be  admitted,  the  deficiency  was  more  than 
counterbalanced  by  his  noble  and  disinterested  zeal  in  the  cause  which  he  de 
fended  with  unwavering  fidelity,  and  of  which,  he  was  at  once  an  ornament  and 
a  support.  In  1755,  at  the  commencement  of  the  war  between  England  and 
France,  at  the  age  of  thirty-seven,  he  was  appointed  commander  of  a  company 
and  joined  the  army  near  Crown  Point.  In  1757,  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
Major.  During  the  entire  war  he  was  distinguished  for  his  bravery  and  ability, 
and  in  1764,  retired  to  his  country-home.  He  was  soon  called  to  fill  several 
offices  in  Salem,  Massachusetts,  his  native-town,  and  to  represent  it  in  the  General 
Assembly.  When  hostilities  commenced  between  England  and  the  Colonies, 
" PUTNAM  received  the  intelligence  while  ploughing  in  the  middle  of  a  field;  he 


180  'GENERALS  PUTNAM  AND  GREENE. 

Greene  himself,  shine  with  all  the  eclat  that  his  character  has 
since  deservedly  acquired.* 

There  were  none,  by  whom  an  unofficer-like  appearance  and 
deportment  could  be  less  tolerated  than  by  a  city-bred  Mary- 
lander,  who,  at  this  time,  was  distinguished  by  the  most  fashion 
ably  cut  coat,  the  most  macaroni  cocked  hat,  and  hottest  blood 
in  the  union;  if  there  was  any  exception,  it  was  to  be  found 
among  the  children  of  the  sun  of  a  still  more  southern  location. 
Among  all  these,  the  point  of  honour  was  maintained,  as  it  still 
seems  to  be,  with  considerable  punctilio  ;  and  the  dashing  man 
ner  of  Stewart,  and  indignant  tone  of  Captain  Smith  (now  Gene 
ral  Smith,)  who  testified  in  his  behalf,  impressed  the  court,  I 
remember,  with  a  high  idea  of  their  military  qualities :  and 
brave  men  they  certainly  were — a  praise,  indeed,  due  to  the 
officers  from  Maryland  generally ;  as  well  as  to  those  of  Small- 
wood's  battalion,  which  behaved  well  and  suffered  severely  on 

left  his  plough  there,  unyoked  his  team,  and,  without  changing  his  clothes,  set  off 
for  the  scene  of  action.  He  levied  a  regiment  under  Colonial  authority  in  Con 
necticut,  and  marched  to  Cambridge.  His  Colony  appointed  him  a  Major-General, 
and  Congress  s"oon  after  confirmed  to  him  the  same  rank  in  the  Continental  army. 
About  this  time  the  British  offered  him  the  rank  of  Major-General  in  His  Majesty's 
service,  with  a  pecuniary  remuneration  for  his  treason;  but  the  temptation  could 
not  influence  him."  He  served  throughout  the  war,  and  died  May  29th,  1790, 
aged  seventy-three  years. — ED. 

*  In  what  respect  GENERAL  GREENE  was  deficient,  we  are  not  informed.  We 
may  infer,  however,  that  the  author  has  reference  to  his  deportment,  also.  His 
father  was  an  artizan,  and  a  Quaker  preacher,  near  the  town  of  Warwick  in 
Rhode  Island.  An  ignorant  and  illiterate  man,  unable  properly  to  estimate  the 
value  and  advantages  of  education,  but  who  is  said  to  have  been  very  careful  of 
the  moral  and  religious  instruction  of  his  children.  GREENE  was  a  self-educated 
man.  In  1770,  he  was  elected  to  the  State  Legislature,  and  in  1774,  enrolled 
himself  as  a  private  in  a  company  called  the  Kentish  guards.  "After  the  battle 
of  Lexington,  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  raised  what  was  termed  an  army 
of  observation,  and  chose  GREENE  its  commander,  with  the  title  of  Major-General. 
His  elevation  from  the  ranks  may  give  some  idea  of  the  estimation  in  which  his 
military  talents  were  held."  His  services  were  of  the  most  brilliant  character, 
and  it  has  been  said  that  WASHINGTON  was  anxious,  in  the  event  of  his  decease, 
that  GREENE  should  be  his  successor.  It  is  very  generally  admitted,  tbat  of  all 
the  officers  engaged  in  the  revolutionary  contest,  GREENE  was  most  eminently 
qualified  to  succeed  to  the  high  command,  if  death  had  deprived  the  country  of 
the  services  of  WASHINGTON. 

GENERAL  GREENE,  died,  within  three  years  after  the  termination  of  the  war,  at 
the  age  of  forty-four  years. — ED. 


AUTHOR  AT  FORT  WASHINGTON — COLONEL  SHEE.  181 

Long  Island  and  at  White  Plains.  Its  officers  exhibited  a  martial 
appearance  by  a  uniform  of  scarlet  and  buff;  which,  by  the  by, 
savoured  somewhat  of  a  servility  if  imitation,  not  fully  according 
with  the  independence  we  had  assumed.  The  common  soldiers 
from  the  east  and  south,  did  not  much  better  assimilate  than  the 
officers ;  but  a  traffic  was  soon  established  between  the  former 
and  the  Pennsylvanians.  This  consisted  in  a  barter  of  the  ration 
of  rum  for  that  of  molasses.  The  Yankees  did  not  care  for  the 
first,  and  our  Irishmen  could  very  well  dispense  with  the  latter. 
It  has  been  supposed  that  the  Pennsylvania  line  consisted  chiefiy 
of  Irish,  but  this  would  by  no  means  appear  from  my  company. 
Out  of  seventy-three  men,  I  find  there  were  twenty  from  Ireland, 
four  from  England,  two  from  Scotland,  two  from  Germany,  and 
the  remaining  forty-five  were  Americans.  To  these,  adding  four 
American  officers,  the  proportion  of  Irish  is  but  little  more  than  a 
fourth. 

The  official  letters  of  General  Washington  ascertain  the  move 
ment  of  the  army  towards  White  Plains  to  have  commenced  on 
the  twentieth  of  October.  We  were  very  desirous  of  being  at 
tached  to  it,  both  for  the  sake  of  variety,  and  the  better  opportu 
nity  of  seeing  service  and  acquiring  distinction ;  but  to  our  ex 
treme  chagrin,  found  that  we  were  to  remain  in  our  prison.  It 
was  perhaps  supposed,  we  had  an  affection  for  the  work  of  our 
hands  ;  but  if  so,  nothing  could  be  more  erroneous.  We  were 
weary  of  the  sameness  of  garrison  duty,  which,  from  the  great 
extent  of  ground  we  had  to  guard,  became  very  severe.  It  was 
not  unusual  for  a  captain  to  be  on  guard  twice  a  week,  and  a 
subaltern  oftener. 

Our  battalion  was  now  commanded  by  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Cadwalader  ;*  Colonel  Shee,  having  before  the  march  of  the  army, 
obtained  leave  of  absence  to  visit  his  family,  and  converted  that 
leave  into  an  entire  abdication  of  his  command.  This  was  cer 
tainly  an  extraordinary  incident,  and  one  I  have  never  heard  ac 
counted  for.  Whatever  cause  he  might  have  had  for  disgust,  or 

*  COLONEL  LAMBERT  CADWALADER. — He  was  made  prisoner  on  the  surrender 
of  Fort  Washington,  but,  at  the  request  of  General  Prescott,  who,  when  himself 
a  prisoner,  at  Philadelphia,  had  received  attentions  from  Colonel  Cadwalader's 
father — he  was  immediately  released  without  parole  by  Sir  William  Howe. — ED. 

16 


182  COUNCIL  OF  SAFETY. 

for  conceiving  that  our  affairs  were  tending  to  ruin,  his  duty 
seemed  too  imperious  to  be  relinquished ;  and  when  Colonel 
Cadwalader  acquainted  some  of  us  with  his  suspicion  and  indeed 
conviction,  that  he  would  not  return,  we  were  truly  astonished. 
But  though  I  attempt  not  to  apologize  for  his  conduct,  I  must 
say,  that  he  had  some  useful  talents  for  the  command  of  a  regi 
ment.  He  was  remarkably  attentive  to  the  necessary  accomo- 
dations  of  every  kind,  whether  of  food,  clothing,  tents,  arms  or 
accoutrements ;  indefatigable  in  his  endeavours  to  promote  disci 
pline,  and  even  enthusiastic  in  what  regarded  the  neatness  and 
soldier-like  appearance  of  the  corps.  He  was,  moreover,  gentle 
manly  and  agreeable  in  his  manners.  Whether  his  promptness 
in  discerning  difficulties  overmatched  his  fortitude  in  sustaining 
them,  I  venture  not  to  say ;  but  he  left  us  in  the  manner  stated. 
Mr.  Shee  is  no  longer  in  a  situation  to  be  hurt  by  a  recognition 
of  his  delinquency,  if  such  it  was ;  nor  is  it  mentioned  from  a 
disrespect  to  his  memory.  Such  a  motive  I  disclaim.  With  me, 
he  was  ever  friendly,  and  free  from  party  rancour :  personally,  I 
liked  the  man,  and  accepted  his  civilities,  which  1  never  failed 
to  receive  on  meeting  him  in  Philadelphia. 

An  event  that  took  place  a  few  weeks  after  the  retirement  of 
the  Colonel,  had  almost  tempted  some  of  us  to  follow  his  illau- 
dable  example.  The  committee,  or  council  of  safety,  as  it  was 
now  called,  had  undergone  a  regeneration ;  and  consisted,  with 
perhaps  an  exception  or  two,  of  a  new  set  of  members.  Persons 
acquainted  with  the  genius  of  liberty,  will  not  be  surprised  at 
this.  To  borrow  the  language  of  French  paradox,  there  is  nothing 
permanent  in  a  revolution,  but  change.  In  the  auction  of  popu 
larity,  the  bid  is  ever  more  attended  to  than  the  inclination  or 
ability  to  pay  ;  and  the  most  boldly- dashing  patriot  is  ever  the 
most  successful  one.  So  it  proved  in  the  council.  New  men,  in 
flated  with  a  little  brief  authority,  are  always  glad  of  an  occasion 
for  displaying  their  consequence  ;  and  partial  to  the  source  from 
whence  they  derive  their  importance,  they  are  ever  ready  to 
recognise  aristocratic  oppression.  In  this  spirit,  they  lent  an  ear 
to  all  the  idle,  ill-founded  reports  of  the  cowardly,  skulking  sol 
diers,  who,  under  pretence  of  sickness,  or  otherwise,  had  found 
their  way  to  Philadelphia.  These  fellows  told  the  council  that 


PROMOTIONS.  183 

their  Captains  had  cheated  them,  and  the  Council,  without  in 
quiry,  seemed  to  take  the  matter  as  proved.  They  accordingly 
wrote  an  illiberal  letter  to  Colonel  Cadwalader  on  the  subject, 
which  he  thought  it  his  duty  to  lay  before  us,  though  despising 
the  low  spirit  that  had  dictated  it.  In  addition  to  this  affront, 
this  same  body,  who  still  retained  the  power  of  appointment  to 
military  command,  went  on  in  the  manufacture  of  Majors  and 
Colonels,  in  utter  disregard  of  the  claims  of  the  officers  in  service, 
and  sometimes,  from  the  coursest  materials.  An  hour's  visit  to 
the  camp,  seemed  to  have  more  merit  in  their  eyes,  than  daily 
and  nightly  duty  in  it;  and  a  little  self-puffing, with  due  incense, 
could  hardly  fail  to  propitiate  these  great  dispensers  of  commis 
sions.*  One  instance  of  their  propensity  to  make  promotions, 
occurred  in  the  case  of  an  Adjutant,  who  had  been  enclosed 
by  the  Hessians  in  the  battle  of  Long  Island.  He  contrived 
to  conceal  himself  in  the  woods  'till  dark,  when,  from  his 
understanding  and  speaking  German,  he  was  enabled  to  answer 
and  elude  their  sentries  ;  and  by  so  doing  to  getbackto  our  lines. 
For  this  piece  of  address,  which  consisted  merely  in  good  hiding 

*  Similar  practices  and  treatment  of  the  officers  doing  duty  on  the  Canada 
frontier  in  the  war  of  the  Madison  Administration,  in  aid  of  their  Imperial  ally, 
have  excited  a  similar  remark.  In  the  spirited  address  to  the  public,  dated 
Buffalo,  June  12th,  1815,  and  signed  by  Col.  Robert  Purdy  and  William  Thomas, 
in  behalf  of  the  officers  of  the  Line,  and  of  the  Hospital  and  Medical  Staff,  is  this 
passage: 

"They  regret,  too,  that  a  winter's  campaign  at  Washington  should  often  avail 
more  than  seven  in  the  field ;  and  that  those  who  remain  at  their  posts  on  a 
frozen  frontier,  in  the  performance  of  their  duty,  should  thereby  lose  their  grade, 
to  give  place  to  some  who  have  been  basking  in  the  sunshine  of  favouritism, 
and  feasting  on  the  delicacies  of  the  metropolis."  The  just  inference  from  such 
facts  as  these,  is,  that  parasites  are  as  much  at  home  at  democratic,  as  at  royal 
courts,  the  eternal  babble  about  intrigue  and  corruption  in  the  latter  notwith 
standing.  By  observations  of  this  kind,  I  would,  forasmuch  as  in  me  lies,  pre 
vent  the  deception  which  popular  forms  of  government  impose  on  benevolent 
minds.  Whatever  other  excellencies  they  may  possess,  Justice,  Honour  and  Ge 
nerosity  are  not  among  their  attributes,  and  whatever  of  patriotism  and  virtue 
they  may  boast,  'tis  certainly  not  the  man  of  probity  who  succeed  the  best  in 
them.  Displease  whom  I  may  by  such  avowals  of  the  truth,  my  mite  shall  be 
contributed  to  undeceiving  the  world  ;  and  I  should  hold  myself  a  traitor  to  my 
fellow  men,  if,  undertaking  to  promulgate  the  results  of  my  experience,  I  should 
conceal  or  misrepresent  facts  on  which  the  happiness  of  future  generations  may 
essentially  depend. 


184  REMONSTRANCE  OF  OFFICERS. 

and  speaking  his  mother  tongue,  the  council  invested  him  with  a 
majority j  at  once  jumping  him  over  the  heads  of  all  the  Captains 
and  subalterns  in  the  line.  This  Adjutant  was  Menzies,  already 
spoken  of  as  a  fencing-master  in  Philadelphia ;  and  who  first  ap 
peared  there  in  the  less  dignified  character  of  a  dancer  on  the 
stage,  a  circumstance  which  rendered  his  preferment  still  more 
galling.  I  should  be  unjust,  however,  if  I  did  not  say,  that 
Menzies,  though  at  this  time  little  known,  turned  out  to  be  an 
honest,  worthy  man,  attentive  to  duty,  correct  in  his  demeanour, 
and  generally  esteemed,  though  certainly  not  for  talents  that  could 
throw  others  into  shade,  or  justify  his  irregular  advancement. 

Conscious  of  integrity,  soured  by  hard  duty,  and  smarting 
under  the  reflection,  that  while  we  were  sustaining  the  severest 
privations,  the  very  men  who  imputed  fraud  to  us,  were  snug  and 
secure  at  their  fire-sides,  we  declared  that  we  would  not  remain 
a  day  longer  in  a  service,  at  once  so  thankless  and  preposterous. 
Colonel  Cadwalader,  to  whom  we  made  the  declaration,  remon 
strated  against  its  rashness,  while  he  admitted  the  enormity  of  the 
provocation.  He  observed  to  us,  that  nothing  could  justify  such  a 
step  in  the  heat  of  a  campaign ;  that  it  would  ruin  us  in  the  public 
opinion,  and  embitter  our  future  lives ;  that  it  would  recoil  upon 
ourselves,  and  be  an  everlasting  blister  to  our  sensibility.  In 
short,  he  said  every  thing  which  a  sensible,  prudent  man,  ac 
quainted  with  the  world,  could  say  upon  the  occasion.  We  felt 
the  full  force  of  his  reasoning  and  acquiesced  in  it ;  though  I 
have  not  an  idea  that  one  of  us  would  have  put  the  threat  in 
execution,  had  we  been  left  entirely  to  ourselves.  Our  vapouring 
was  the  effect  of  sudden  passion,  which  at  length  vented  itself  in 
the  following  letter,  written  and  sent  off  with  nearly  as  little  con 
sideration,  as  we  had  used  in  taking  up  our  first  resolution. 

"GENTLEMEN, 

"  Were  it  not  that  some  expressions  of  resentment  are 
natural  to  the  human  mind  when  it  feels  itself  injured,  we  should 
disdain  the  meanness  of  telling  you,  how  much  we  were  mortified 
on  seeing  your  letter  to  Colonel  Cadwalader,  containing  your 
illiberal  charge  against  the  Captains  of  his  battalion,  of  withhold 
ing  the  pay  due  to  their  men. 

"  For  the  same  reason,  we  cannot  forbear  mentioning  our  dissa- 


REMONSTRANCE  OF  OFFICERS.  185 

tisfaction  at  the  late  appointments  and  promotions,  wherein  some 
that  have  never  been  in  service,  are  preferred  to  those  who  have 
undergone  the  toils  and  dangers  of  a  severe  campaign,  and  others 
of  an  inferior  rank  to  those  of  a  superior,  without  any  proof,  or, 
as  we  presume,  suggestion  of  misbehaviour  in  the  latter. 

"As  to  the  accusation  of  fraud!  \ve  are  above  it.  We  mean 
not  a  vindication :  to  attempt  it,  would  betray  a  meanness  which 
might  almost  justify  the  base  suspicion.  In  a  word,  we  deny  the 
charge,  and  rest  perfectly  easy  under  a  consciousness  that  it  can 
not  be  supported. 

"As  to  the  promotions,  we  shall  only  say,  that  the  man  who  feels 
no  indignity  upon  such  occasions,  wants  an  essential  qualification 
for  a  soldier,  and  is,  in  our  opinion,  unworthy  to  bear  a  com 
mission. 

"But  do  not  imagine,  gentlemen,  by  this,  that  we  are  envious  of 
superior  merit.  For  our  parts,  we  pretend  to  very  little  ;  and  in 
any  other  service,  for  merit  is  rated  by  comparison,  we  should 
think  ourselves  inadequate  to  our  present  appointments.  We 
entered  into  the  army  not  for  pay  or  preferment,  but  to  serve 
our  country  to  the  best  of  our  poor  abilities :  'Tis  this  alone  which 
keeps  us  in  at  this  hour,  as  we  conceive,  and  in  so  doing,  we 
hope  we  may  not  incur  the  imputation  of  vanity,  that  notwith 
standing  the  insignificance  of  our  services,  the  cause  as  well  as 
our  honour,  might  suffer  from  our  resignations.  However,  we 
mean  not  to  continue  in  the  army,  nor  do  we  intend  to  accept  of 
commissions  on  the  new  establishment ;  and  it  is  a  matter  of  the 
utmost  indifference  to  us,  how  soon  the  council  of  safety  may 
take  it  into  their  heads  to  appoint  others  more  to  their  satisfaction, 
in  the  room  of,  gentlemen, 

"  Your  most  obedient  servants." 

This  angry  epistle  was  signed,  I  think,  by  five  of  us.  We 
heard  no  more  of  it;  but  in  the  sequel,  \ve  had  reason  to  wish 
that  it  never  had  been  written ;  and  were  convinced,  that  silence 
under  suffering,  is  generally,  if  not  always,  wise. 

The  denouement  of  the  drama,  in  wrhich  we  were  acting  a  part,  was 
now  rapidly  approaching.  After  the  action  of  White  Plains,  of 
which,  as  I  was  not  there,  I  shall  say  nothing,  General  Howe 

16* 


i86  FORT  WASHINGTON  INDEFENSIBLE. 

with  his  army,  was  falling  down  upon  our  post ;  and  we  had  little 
doubt,  that  his  object  was  to  invest  it  without  delay.  On  receipt 
of  this  intelligence,  Colonel  Cadwalader  proposed  to  me  to  walk 
with  him  to  the  Fort,  (for  we  were  now  stationed  in  the  lines  of 
Haerlem  heights,)  that  we  might  endeavour,  by  an  examination 
of  its  means  of  defence,  to  collect,  whether  it  could  be  the  design 
to  hold  it.  We  went  and  reconnoitered  it,  and  the  result  was, 
that  it  was  absolutely  untenable,  and  must  be  abandoned ;  though 
still,  all  the  measures  taking,  seemed  to  point  to  a  defence.  I 
will  not  undertake  minutely  to  describe  the  situation  of  the  Fort, 
as  my  memory  might  not  enable  me  to  do  it  truly.  But  I  recollect, 
as  it  has  been  observed  by  General  Lee,  that  there  were  no  bar 
racks,  or  casemates,  or  fuel,  or  water  within  the  body  of  the 
place.  It  was  an  open,  earthern  construction,  with  ground  at  a 
short  distance  oh  the  back  of  it,  equally  high  if  not  higher ;  with 
out  a  ditch  of  any  consequence,  if  there  was  a  ditch  at  all ;  no 
outworks,  an  incipient  one  on  the  north,  not  deserving  the  appel 
lation,  or  any  of  those  exterior,  multiplied  obstacles  and  defences, 
that,  so  far  as  I  can  judge,  could  entitle  it  to  the  name  of  a  for 
tress,  in  any  degree  capable  of  sustaining  a  siege.  It  required  no 
parallels  to  approach  it :  the  citadel  was  at  once  within  reach  of 
the  assailants.  In  addition  to  this,  there  were  no  magazines  of 
any  kind  prepared  ;  and  it  is  stated  in  the  Jlnnual  Register ,  which 
carried  on  the  history  of  the  war,  that  with  its  other  deficiencie's, 
there  was  not  found  in  it  ammunition  adequate  to  the  shortest 
defence.  Yet,  it  was  to  be  defended,  as  will  soon  appear :  and 
Gordon,  in  his  history,  gives  a  letter  from  Colonel  Magaw,  stating 
that  he  could  hold  out  until  the  latter  part  of  December,  an 
opinion  which  shows  him  to  have  been  more  miserably  deficient  in 
judgment  than  ever  we  supposed  him  to  be.  He  had  heard  of  sieges 
being  protracted  for  months  and  even  years  ;  he  had  a  good  opinion 
of  the  spirit  of  his  garrison ;  and,  as  the  place  he  had  to  defend 
was  called  a  Fort,  and  had  cannon  it,  he  thought  the  deuce  was  in 
it  if  he  could  not  hold  out  a  few  weeks.  Such,  probably,  were  the 
data  of  his  calculation ;  nor,  though  friendly  to  the  memory  of  a 
$incere  and  gallant  man,  can  I  suppose  them  a  jot  better. 

While   we  remained    in    this    incertitude    in  respect   to    our 
destination,  and  the  main  armies  were  maneuvering  above  us 


DEMONSTRATION  OF  AN  ATTACK.  187 

about  the  Brunx,  Lord  Percy,  who  commanded  the  British  troops 
on  York  Island,  thought  proper,  one  day,  to  appear  in  force  in 
the  plains  of  Haerlem,  lying  between  his  and  our  advanced 
posts.  It  was  on  Sunday,  the  day  his  lordship  was  supposed 
to  prefer  for  his  military  operations.*  As  we  were  both  too- 
insignificant  and  too  distant  to  admit  the  supposition  that  it  was 
intended  as  a  diversion,  in  favour  of  General  Howe,  his  object 
probably  was  to  put  our  countenance  to  the  test ;  to  feel  our 
pulse,  and  if  he  found  it  tremulous,  to  push  us  into  the  Fort. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  if  he  found  it  full  and  regular,  it  was 
only  to  bluster  awhile  with  his  artillery  ;  skirmish  a  little  with 
his  small  arms,  and  retire.  This  was  all,  at  least,  that  came  of 
a  very  pompous  display.  We  had  one  field  piece  with  which 
we  answered  his  fire  ;  and  from  the  carcass  of  a  white  horse,, 
which  was  left  to  bleaching  on  the  ground  he  occupied,  we  had 
satifactory  evidence  that  our  balls  had  reached  him.  It  was  not 
our  business  to  quit  the  high  ground  in  force,  although  some  of 
our  men  were  permitted  to  skirmish  with  the  light  parties  which 
approached  us.  The  firing  was  pretty  warm,  and  a  few  men 
killed  and  wounded  on  either  side.  An  Irish  lad  of  about 
eighteen,  who  belonged  to  my  company,  killed  a  British  soldier 
and  brought  off  his  arms;  which  on  the  evening  parade,  were 
formally  presented  to  him  by  Colonel  Cadwalader,  in  reward  of 
his  bravery.  History  has  preserved  no  record  of  this  affair, 
which,  trifling  as  it  was,  is  as  well  deserving  of  memorial,  as 
many  others  that  have  been  preserved  in  the  transactions  of  our 
petite  guere.  Had  it  passed  between  the  grand  armies,  it  would 
without  doubt  have  been  taken  notice  of;  but  as  it  did  not,  we 
are  reduced  to  the  unfortunate  situation  of  Sir  John  FalstafT  at 
the  battle  of  Shrewsbury,  in  being  obliged,  though  late,  to  attend 
to  its  booking  ourselves.  The  celebrated  Thomas  Paine, fhow- 

*  It  was  probably,  on  the  27th  of  October,  as  it  is  noted  in  General  HEATH'S 
Memoirs,  that  in  the  forenoon  of  that  day,  a  heavy  cannonade  was  heard  towards 
Fort  Washington,  and  as  this  was  the  day  of  the  action  at  White  Plains,  it  is 
probable  there  was  a  concert  between  Generals  HOWE  and  PERCY. 

t  When  this  man's  pamphlet,  "Common  Sense,"  first  appeared,  Dr.  FRANKLIN 
was  generally  considered  as  the  real  author.  Paine  but  the  ostensible  one.  It 
made  considerable  noise,  and  certainly  put  things  in  a  new  and  strong  light,,  but, 


188  SKIRMISHING — CAMP  COMFORTS. 

ever,  happened  to  witness  the  proceeding  from  Fort  Lee,  and 
gave  us  a  handsome  puff  in  one  of  the  Philadelphia  papers  of 
the  day. 

Another  affair,  which  never  got  beyond  the  precincts  of  our 
secluded  position,  was  the  carrying  a  Hessian  picket  on  the  side 
of  King's-bridge.  This  was  achieved  by  one  of  our  sergeants 
and  a  few  men,  but  three  or  four  days  before  we  were  taken. 
The  officer  of  the  guard  was  killed ;  and  the  sergeant,  with  the 
savage  exultation  of  one  of  Homer's  heroes,  appeared  in  his  uni 
form  on  the  parade. 

It  was  now  November,  and  the  nights  becoming  cold.     It  was 
the  season,  too,  for  north-easterly  storms,  one  of  which  is  rendered 
memorable  to  me,  from  a  circumstance  of  some  interest  which 
accompanied  it.     I  was  upon  guard  with  Lieutenant  Davidson, 
of  our  battalion,  at  a  place  distinguished  by  the  appellation  of 
The  point  of  rocks,  w^hich  skirted  the  road  leading  to  King's- 
bridge.     This  was  our  most  advanced  picket  towards  New  York, 
and  only  separated  from  that  of  the  enemy  by  a  valley  a  few  hun 
dred  yards  over.     The  night,  as  already  mentioned,  was  extremely 
raw,  rainy  and  tempestuous  ;  and  the  only  shelter  the  spot  afforded 
was  an  old  caboose,  which  had  been  placed  here  byway  of  guard- 
to  a  sober  mind,  unheatcd  by  controversy,  there  seems  but  little  in  it,  to  enforce 
the  conclusions  it  aims  at.     It  made  the  author^  however,  conspicuous,  and  intro 
duced  him  to  the  notice  of  the  principal  Whigs  of  the  day.     Hence,  his  good 
reception   at  Head    Quarters,  and    acquaintance  with  the  Commander-in-chief, 
whom  he  seems  to  have  considered  from  that  time,  as  embarked  with  him  in  the 
general  cause  of  reforming,  republicanizing,  and  democritizing  the  world ;   than 
which   nothing  was  more  foreign  to  the  views  of  the  General,  or  those  of  the 
others,  who  took  a  lead  in  the  early  stage  of  the  contest.     One  of  the  most  unto- 
ward  consequences  of  a  successful  resistance  of  government,  is  the  unavoidable 
association  in  the  undertaking,  of  the  worst  men  with  the  best,  of  fools,  fanatics 
system-mongers,  reformers  and  philosophers,  with  men  of  sense,  moderation  and 
virtue,  who,  wishing  to  stop  when  the  true  object  of  the  controversy  is  attained, 
are  seldom  suffered   to  do  it,  or,  if  fortunate  enough  to  prevail,  they  are,  thence 
forth  viewed  with  suspicion  and  charged  with  apostacy.     Thus  General  WASH 
INGTON  is  accused  by  this  incendiary,  of  having  deserted  his  principles,  because 
of  his  not  aiding  and  comforting  him  in  his  design  of  first  revolutionizing  Eng 
land,  and  then  France  ;  and  that  sincere  friend  of  the  General,  Mr.  JEFFERSO.V, 
does  his  best  to  give  colour  to  the  charge,  by  fostering  Paine,  as  a  persecuted 
patriot,  and   formally  escorting   him   in   a  public  vessel    to   this   country  from, 
France. 


LUDICROUS  ALARM.  189 

house.  A  kind  of  chimney  had  been  built  at  the  mouth  of  it,  and 
a  fire  here  in  calm  weather,  rendered  it  tolerably  comfortable ; 
but  at  this  time,  the  smoke  produced  and  driven  into  the  cabin 
by  the  storm,  could  not  be  endured ;  neither  was  the  shelter  from 
the  driving  rain  by  any  means  sufficient :  we  were  dripping  wet. 
In  this  miserable  situation,  Davidson  proposed  our  going  to  a 
deserted  house  on  the  low  ground  directly  across  the  road,  where 
we  could  have  a  fire,  and  be  dry  and  comfortable.  But  this  I 
refused  to  do,  since,  though  not  more  than  thirty  or  forty  yards 
from  our  post,  and  though  rather  an  extension  than  a  dereliction 
of  it,  yet  it  varied  the  station  as  to  ourselves.  The  non-commis 
sioned  officers  and  the  rest  of  the  guard  were,  indeed,  to  remain 
there,  but  in  case  of  disaster  there  would  be  blame,  and  the  re 
sponsibility  was  upon  us,  and  particularly  upon  myself.  In 
this  resolution,  I  for  a  long  time  persisted  against  the  repeated 
importunities  of  my  companion,  who  ingeniously  obviated  my 
objections,  until  at  length,  the  storm  rather  increasing  than  abating, 
I  consented  about  midnight  to  go  to  the  house,  first  taking  the 
precaution  to  continue  the  line  of  sentinels  from  the  point  of  rocks 
across  the  road  and  round  the  building  at  some  distance  from  it, 
so  that  it  was  impossible  it  should  be  approached  by  the  enemy 
unperceived,  should  he  endeavour  to  grope  his  way  into  unknown 
hostile  ground,  in  one  of  the  darkest  and  most  dismal  nights  that 
can  be  conceived.  We  had  located  ourselves  in  an  outer  room, 
where  we  had  a  good  fire,  and  had  already  pretty  well  dried  our 
selves.  Davidson  was  stretched  along  a  bench  fixed  to  the  wall, 
half  asleep,  if  not  wholly  so,  and  I  was  sitting  before  the  fire, 
when  a  sudden  noise  of  feet  and  voices  reached  the  door.  The 
latch  was  lifted,  and  as  I  rose  up,  not  without  considerable  alarm, 
the  first  object  that  presented  itself  was  a  British  soldier,  with  his 
musket  and  fixed  bayonet  in  his  hand.  Who  are  you?  said  I,  a 
deserter !  "No  deserter,"  was  the  answer.  My  emotion  did  not 
prevent  my  preserving  a  pretty  good  countenance,  though  my  first 
impression  was,  that  we  were  surprised,  and  should  be  bayonetted 
out  of  hand.  But  this  idea  was  scarcely  formed,  when  the  ap 
pearance  of  one  of  my  own  men  behind  the  British  soldier,  changed 
it  to  a  more  pleasing  one,  and  justified,  if  it  did  not  induce,  the 
addition  of  the  term  deserter,  to  the  question  of  who  are  you  1  In 


190  DESERTER. AUTHOR'S  STATION  UNSAFE. 

fact,  he  was  a  deserter ;  but  though  in  the  very  act  of  committing 
the  crime  he  revolted  against  its  opprobrium.  I  understood  him, 
and  softened  down  the  ungraciousness  of  my  salutation,  by  asking 
him  if  he  had  come  over  to  us.  He  answered,  yes.  Our  sentinel 
had  done  his  duty,  but  awkwardly,  in  not  having  disarmed  the 
soldier,  and  introduced  him  in  a  less  questionable  shape. 

The  bustle  of  the  incident  having  completely  roused  Davidson, 
and  set  him  upon  his  legs,  we  fell  to  questioning  our  refugee.  He 
called  himself  Broderick,  was  an  intelligent  fellow,  and  brought 
with  him  the  last  newspaper  from  New  York.  He  had  for  some 
time,  he  said,  projected  coming  over  to  us,  and  had  availed  him 
self  of  this  stormy  night  to  put  his  design  in  execution.  By  means 
of  the  darkness,  he  had  been  enabled  to  separate  himself  from  his 
comrades  without  their  perceiving  it,  and  had  probably  got  to  our 
sentries  before  they  discovered  him  to  be  gone.  He  informed  us 
that  we  might  expect  to  be  attacked  in  six  or  eight  days  at  farthest, 
as  some  time  had  been  employed  in  transporting  heavy-  artillery 
to  the  other  side  of  the  Haerlem,  and  as  the  preparations  for  the 
assault  were  nearly  completed.  Among  other  things,  he  told  us,  that 
our  situation  at  this  house  was  a  very  unsafe  one,  as  their  patroles, 
still  speaking  as  a  Briton,  passed  very  near  it,  and  might  easily 
sweep  us  off;  and  indeed  he  appeared  uneasy  at  the  idea  while 
he  staid  with  us.  This  was  not  long.  I  put  him  under  the  care 
of  a  trusty  sergeant,  with  orders  to  guard  him  vigilantly,  and  to 
take  him  to  head  quarters,  as  soon  as  it  should  be  light  enough  to 
find  the  way  there.  The  hint  we  had  received  in  regard  to  the 
enemy's  proximity,  and  still  more  our  own  knowledge  of  the  com 
parative  insecurity  of  our  present  station  with  the  one  we  had  left, 
induced  us  to  return  to  the  latter,  maugre  the  comforts  of  a  snug 
room  and  good  fire.  We  accordingly  drew  in  our  sentinels,  and 
repaired  to  the  caboose,  where  we  weathered  out  the  remainder 
of  the  night,  by  this  time  pretty  well  advanced. 

The  deserter's  information  turned  out  to  be  correct,  as  in  not 
more  than  eight  or  ten  days,  I  think,  Colonel  Magaw,  the  com 
mandant  of  the  fort,  was  summoned  by  General  Howe  to  surren 
der  it.  He  returned  the  usual  answer,  that  he  would  defend  it  to 
the  last  extremity.  This  was  announced  to  us  at  evening  parade  by 
Colonel  Cadwalader,  who  in  a  few  words  put  us  in  mind  of  what 


FORT  WASHINGTON  SUMMONED.  191 

our  country  and  our  honour  demanded  of  us,  and  enjoined  it  both 
on  officers  and  men  to  see  that  their  arms  and  ammunition  were 
in  order,  and  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness  to  take  their  posts 
before  day-light  the  next  morning.  The  plan  of  defence  adopted 
by  Colonel  Magaw,  was,  instead  of  cooping  up  his  garrison  in  the 
fort,  to  draw  it  out  into  the  post  which  had  been  occupied  by  the 
main  army.  This  consisted  of  the  strong  grounds  towards  King's- 
bridge  on  the  north,  the  elevated,  steep  and  rocky  bank  of  Haer- 
lem  river  on  the  east,  and  the  entrenchments  on  the  south ;  the 
western  limit  or  rear  of  the  position,  being  the  Hudson  river,  com 
manded  to  a  certain  extent  by  Forts  Washington  and  Lee  on 
either  side.  Although  I  have  always  supposed  that  this  post  w^ould 
require  at  least  ten  thousand  men  for  its  support,  perhaps  in  that 
number  I  am  much  below  the  mark,  as  I  find  it  stated  by  the 
King  of  Prussia  in  his  history  of  the  seven  years  war,  that  sixteen 
thousand  men  were  very  inadequate  to  the  defence  of  Berlin,  three 
miles  in  circumference,  say  nine  or  ten  of  our  miles.*  Now  the 
circuit  to  be  defended  by  Magaw  was  scarcely  less,  if  I  have  not 
much  forgotten  its  dimensions,  than  four  or  five  miles :  the  scale 
in  the  map  of  Chief-Justice  Marshall's  Life  of  Washington,  would 
make  it  not  less  than  seven:  And  to  do  this,  he  had  nominally 
something  more  than  two  thousand  soldiers,  really  little  more  than 
half  their  number:  For  I  cannot  set  any  great  value  upon  the 
militia  poured  in  upon  us,  on  the  evening  before,  and  on  the 
morning  of  the  engagement.  My  complaisance  to  the  sovereign 
people  will  not  carry  me  so  far  as  to  compliment  them  with  being 
soldiers  without  an  iota  of  discipline  or  ever  having  seen  an  enemy, 

*  A  case  perhaps  still  more  in  point  occurred  during  the  same  war,  when  Gene 
ral  Fonquet  with  ten  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty  men,  undertook  to  defend 
the  post  of  Lindshut,  at  which  there  were  redoubts,  against  General  Laudohn  with 
an  army  of  thirty-four  thousand  men.  A  particular  account  of  this  is  to  be  found 
in  the  13th  volume  of  the  King  of  Prussia's  works.  The  force  of  Fonquet  was 
deemed  wholly  insufficient,  as  there  were  intervals  of  ground  of  two  thousand 
paces  or  more  left  undefended. — We  had  intervals  perhaps  proportionably  large, 
that  we  were  unable  to  man;  hence,  if  General  Fonquet  received  the  warmest 
approbation  of  the  king  his  master  for  his  unsuccessful  attempt,  (for  he  was  beaten 
and  made  prisoner,)  it  is  surely  unnecessary  for  the  American  historian  to  seek 
an  apology  for  the  loss  of  Fort  Washington  in  the  rawness  of  some  of  the  troops, 
to  whom  its  defence  was  committed. 


192  STATE  OF  PRISONERS. 

even  though  every  tenth  man  among  them  were  a  Caesar  in  valour, 
or  a  Cato  in  patriotism.*  Several  individuals,  however,  of  this 
description  of  force  behaved  bravely. 

I  cannot  give  a  stronger  proof  of  my  ill  opinion  of  the  Fort, 
than  when  I  say,  that  of  the  alternatives  presented  to  Colonel 
Magaw  of  confining  his  defence  to  it,  or  of  extending  his  opera 
tions  to  so  large  a  circuit,  he  adopted  the  right  one  in  choosing 
the  latter.  It  might  indeed  be  made  a  question  whether  the  de 
fence  should  not  have  been  restricted  to  the  oblong  hill  on  which 
the  Fort  was  erected  :  But  this  ground  being  considerably  weaker 
than  that  of  the  banks  of  the  Haerlem,  (taking  the  river  into  con 
sideration,)  the  temptation  to  prefer  the  latter  both  for  this  rea 
son,  and  because  it  had  somewhat  of  the  advantage  of  an  out 
work  in  keeping  the  assailants  at  a  distance,  always  a  desidera 
tum  with  the  besieged,  might  have  prevailed  with  a  more  ex 
perienced  commander  than  Magaw.  I  have  no  doubt,  however, 
that  the  works  and  defences  of  the  fortress  should  have  compre 
hended  the  whole  of  this  hill,  called  Mount  Washington,  in 
which  case,  with  adequate  preparation  and  magazines,  it  might 
have  stood  a  siege. f  There  was  yet  another  mode  which  would, 
in  some  degree,  have  contracted  the  position:  and  this  was,  in 
stead  of  manning  the  outer  entrenchments  towards  New  York  to 
have  placed  the  men  in  the  inner  one,  and  upon  the  high  grounds 
about  Colonel  Roger  Morris's  house.  This  would  have  short 
ened  the  front  on  Haerlem  river,  and  by  more  compacting  the 
force,  have  put  its  several  parts  into  a  better  condition  of  mutual 
succour  and  support.  But,  besides,  that  this  disposition  would 
not  have  very  considerably  abridged  the  circuit  to  be  defended, 

*  So  much  is  risked  in  speaking  thus  of  militia,  that  too  many  accessories  can- 
not  be  brought  to  sustain  the  assertion.  General  WASHINGTON  thus  wrote  to  Gene 
ral  REED  after  the  affairs  of  Trenton  and  Princeton  :  "  If  the  militia  cannot  be 
prevailed  upon  to  restrain  the  foraging  parties,  and  to  annoy  and  harass  the  enemy 
in  their  excursions  and  upon  a  march,  they  will  be  of  very  little  use  to  us,  as  I  am 
sure  they  never  can  be  brought  fairly  up  to  an  attack  in  any  serious  affair." 

t  Mr.  Stedman,  in  his  History  of  the  War,  blames  Colonel  Magaw  for  suffer 
ing  his  men,  upon  being  driven  from  (heir  outposts  to  crowd  into  the  Fort  in 
stead  of  forming  upon  this  hill :  But,  improperly,  I  presume,  as  the  Hessians  must 
have  been  in  possession  of  the  north  end  of  the  hill,  as  soon  as  Rawlings  was 
driven  from  it 


REFLECTIONS  ON  THE  SITUATION  OF  THE  TROOPS.  193 

and  that  it  might  have  been  liable  to  some  positive  objections  I 
am  not  aware  of,  the  desideratum  already  adverted  to,  would  na 
turally  induce  a  preference  of  the  farther  lines;  and  no  doubt  the 
calculation  was,  that  after  fighting  to  the  utmost  in  the  first,  we 
might  fight  again  in  the  second.  In  fact,  the  idea  of  taking  an 
extensive  range,  and  equally  resisting  in  every  part  the  compres 
sion  to  the  centre,  the  effect  and  advantage  of  regular  fortifica 
tions  sufficiently  manned,  is  extremely  plausible  and  seducing; 
insomuch,  that  none  but  an  old  General  who  has  been  taught  by 
long  experience  to  know  the  importance  of  adhering  to  rules  of 
proportion,  as  well  in  the  management  of  animate  as  inanimate 
machinery,  will  have  the  boldness  to  disregard  it.  Whether 
these  last  two  schemes  of  defence  or  either  of  them,  occurred  to 
our  Commander,  I  do  not  know ;  but  if  they  did  occur,  they  were 
probably  contemplated  as  dernier  resorts,  or  efforts  in  reserve, 
which,  it  would  be  time  enough  to  employ,  when  our  first  exer 
tions  should  have  been  overpowered.  The  same  reasoning  might 
have  induced  General  Greene  to  suppose,  that  after  slaughtering 
a  host  of  the  enemy,  we  might  methodically  withdraw'  into  the 
citadel  of  Fort  Washington:  and  then,  provided  each  of  us  had 
killed  his  man,  and  thus  fulfilled  the  object  of  the  operation,  if 
any  object  it  had,  we  might  have  been  snugly  slipped  over  the 
Hudson,  as  erst  we  had  been  over  the  East  river.  But  in  bello 
non  licet  bis  errare,  we  should  beware  of  repeating  a  mistake  in 
war;  and  how  this  fine  project  was  marred  and  the  garrison  put 
hors  de  combat  will  now  be  seen.  I  repeat,  however,  that  the 
error  was  in  attempting  to  defend  the  placej  not  in  the  disposition 
of  the  troops,  which,  all  things  considered,  was  perhaps,  as  ad 
vantageous  as  possible. 

But  supposing  Fort  Washington  tenable,  "  what  single  pur 
pose,"  as  it  has  been  observed  by  General  Lee,  "  did  it  answer 
to  keep  it?  Did  it  cover,  did  it  protect  a  valuable  country? 
Did  it  prevent  the  enemy's  ships  from  passing  and  repassing  with 
impunity?"  No;  but  we  had  been  too  much  in  the  habit  of 
evacuating  posts,  and  it  was  high  time  to  correct  the  procedure. 
Thi^  garrison  must  stand,  because  it  had  been  hitherto  too 
fashionable  to  run  away;  and  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  must 
17 


194  POSITION  OF  THE  TROOPS. 

pay  for  the  retreating  alacrity  of  New  England.*  If  any  thing 
better  can  be  made  of  General  Greene's  motives  for  retaining 
the  post,  as  mentioned  in  General  WASHINGTON'S  official  letter 
to  Congress,  I  am  willing  to  take  to  myself  the  discredit  of  per 
version.  If  what  I  say  should  be  thought  to  implicate  the  Com 
mander-in-chief,  and  to  impugn  his  decision,  I  cannot  help  it. 
A  good  man  he  undoubtedly  was,  nor  will  party  malignity  be 
ever  able  to  deprive  him  of  the  fame  of  a  truly  great  one.  But 
my  veneration  for  truth,  is  even  greater  than  that  for  his  charac 
ter;  nor  will  my  admiration  of  his  virtues  induce  me  to  say,  that 
his  military  career  was  without  a  blemish,  f 

On  the  sixteenth  of  November,  before  day-break,  we  were  at 
our  post  in  the  lower  lines  of  Haerlem  heights;  that  is,  our  regi 
ment  and  Magaw's,  and  some  broken  companies  of  Miles's  and 
other  battalions,  principally  from  Pennsylvania.  This  might  be 
called  our  right  wing,  and  was  under  the  command  of  Colonel 
Cadwalader ;  our  left,  extending  to  the  Hudson  above,  and  on 
the  north  side  of  the  fort  towards  King's-bridge,  was  commanded 
by  Colonel  RawlingsJ  of  Maryland,  who  had  there  his  own  regi 
ment  of  riflemen,  and  probably  some  other  troops;  though  as  the 
position  was  narrow,  numbers  were  not  so  essential  to  it,  as  to 
other  parts  of  the  general  post.  The  front  or  centre  extending 
a  considerable  distance  along  Haerlem  river,§  was  committed  to 

*  Once  for  all  let  me  be  understood  as  only  alluding  in  these  remarks  to  the 
bad  constitution  of  the  New  England  troops;  and  by  no  means  to  the  people 
generally,  who  have  no  doubt  the  means  of  furnishing  as  good  officers  as  any 
other  part  of  the  Union.  But  from  their  shameful  inattention  to  it,  this  campaign, 
the  southern  officers  were  warranted  in  their  indignation. 

t  Subsequent  developments  prove,  as  we  have  shown,  that  the  opinion  of  Gene 
ral  WASHINGTON  was  adverse  to  the  course  which  circumstances  beyond  his  con- 
trol,  compelled  him  to  adopt.  If  the  information,  since  so  faithfully  collected  and 
concentrated  by  the  indefatigable  SPARKS,  had  been  within  reach  of  our  author, 
we  have  too  high  an  opinion  of  his  candour  to  suppose  that  he  would  have  in 
dulged  in  a  strain  of  remark  as  unjust  as  it  is  painful  to  peruse. — ED. 

t  COLONEL  MOSES  RAWLINGS. — General  WASHINGTON  speaks  of  him  in  his  letter 
to  John  Augustine  Washington,  19th  November,  1776:  "By  General  Greene's 
account  the  enemy  have  suffered  greatly  on  the  north  side  of  Fort  Washington. 
Colonel  Rawlings'  regiment  was  posted  there,  and  behaved  with  great  spirit." — 
ED. 

§  In  calling  this  the  front,  I  conform  to  Judge  Marshall's  description  of  the 


ATTACKED  BY  THE  BRITISH.  195 

the  militia  of  the  Flying  Camp,  and  Colonel  Magaw  placed  him 
self  in  the  most  convenient  station  for  attending  to  the  whole, 
having  selected  one  or  two  officers  to  assist  him  as  aids-de-camp. 
I  think  it  was  between  seven  and  eight  o'clock,  when  they  gave 
us  the  first  shot  from  one  of  their  batteries  on  the  other  side  of 
Haerlem  river.  It  was  \vell  directed,  at  a  cluster  of  us  that 
were  standing  together  observing  their  movements  ;  but  it  fell 
short  by  about  ten  or  fifteen  yards,  and  bounded  over  the  spot 
we  had  precipitately  abandoned.  In  correcting  this  error  they 
afterwards  shot  too  high,  and  did  us  no  harm  ;  at  least,  while  I 
remained  in  this  part  of  the  field,  which  though  enfiladed  or 
rather  exposed  in  the  rear,  was  too  distant  to  be  very  seriously 
annoyed.  They  had  better  success  in  front,  killing  a  man  with 
a  cannon  ball,  belonging  to  our  pickets,  which  they  drove  in. 
Soon  after,  they  approached  the  lines  in  great  force  under  cover 
of  a  wood,  in  the  verge  of  which  they  halted,  and  slowly  began 
to  form,  giving  us  an  occasional  discharge  from  their  artillery. 
Tired  of  the  state  of  suspense  in  which  we  had  remained  for  se 
veral  hours,  I  proposed  to  Colonel  Cadwalader,  to  throw  myself 
with  my  company  into  a  small  work  or  ravelin  about  two  hun 
dred  yards  in  advance,  for  the  purpose  of  annoying  them  as  they 
came  up.  To  this  he  assented,  and  I  took  possession  of  it;  but 
found  it  was  a  work  that  had  been  little  more  than  marked  out, 
not  knee  high,  and  of  course  affording  no  cover.  For  this  rea 
son,  after  remaining  in  it  a  few  minutes,  with  a  view  to  impress 
my  men  with  the  idea  that  a  breastwork  was  not  absolutely  ne 
cessary,  I  abandoned  it,  and  returned  into  the  intrenchment. 
This  unimportant  movement  was  treated  with  some  respect:  Not 
knowing  its  meaning,  it  induced  the  troops  that  were  in  column, 
immediately  to  display ;  and  the  irregulars  to  open  upon  us  a 


action.  As  the  longest  line  of  the  position,  it  was  the  front,  but  seems  improperly 
so  called  when  it  is  considered  that,  except  at  its  upper  extremity,  no  troops  were 
posted  on  it.  It  would  be  more  correct,  therefore,  to  consider  the  posts,  the  one 
crossing-  the  island  on  the  north  under  Colonels  Rawlings  and  Baxter,  and  the 
other  on  the  south,  under  Colonel  Cadwalader,  as  two  distinct  and  unconnected 
positions,  separated  as  they  were  by  a  space  of  about  three  miles.  This  interval 
for  above  half  its  extent,  lying  along  the  banks  of  the  Haerlem,  was  to  depend  for 
defence  on  casual  supplies  of  troops,  as  they  could  be  spared  from  other  places. 


196  BATTLE  OF    HAERLEM  HEIGHTS. 

scattering  fire.  Soon  after  my  return  to  the  lines,  it  being  ob 
served  that  the  enemy  was  extending  himself  towards  the  Hudson 
on  our  right,  Colonel  Cadwalader  detached  me  thither  with  my 
company,  with  orders  to  post  myself  to  the  best  advantage  for 
the  protection  of  that  flank.  I  accordingly  marched,  and  took 
my  station  at  the  extremity  of  the  trench,  just  where  the  high 
grounds  begin  to  decline  towards  the  river.  This  situation,  from 
the  intervention  of  higher  land,  concealed  from  my  view  the 
other  parts  of  the  field;  and  thence,  disqualifies  me  from  speak 
ing  of  what  passed  there,  as  an  eye-witness:  But  that  the 
action  had  begun  in  earnest,  I  was  some  time  after  informed 
by  my  sense  of  hearing.  It  was  assailed  by  a  most  tre 
mendous  roar  of  artillery,  quickly  succeeded  by  incessant  vol- 
lies  of  small  arms,  which  seemed  to  proceed  from  the  east  and 
north  ;  and  it  was  to.  these  points,  that  General  Howe  chiefly  di 
rected  his  efforts.  The  direct  and  cross  fire  from  his  batteries  on 
the  east  side  of  the  Haerlem,  effectually  covered  the  landing  of 
his  troops,  and  protected  them  also  in  gaining  the  steep  ascents 
on  our  side.  It  was  no  disgrace  to  the  militia,  that  they  shrunk 
from  this  fire ;  such  of  them  at  least  as  were  exposed  to  it  with 
out  cover.  I  question  whether  the  bravest  veterans  could  have 
stood  it,  unless  I  am  deceived  as  to  the  advantage  of  the  ground 
on  which  the  batteries  were  erected.  When  the  heights  were 
gained,  the  enemy  planted  there  must  maintain  themselves  by 
their  small  arms,  since  the  artillery  from  their  batteries  would 
be  equally  fatal  to  them  as  to  us.  On  receiving  intelligence 
that  embarkations  of  British  troops  were  about  to  be  thrown 
across  Haerlem  river  in  his  rear,  Colonel  Cadwalader  made  de 
tachments  from  his  position  (already  much  too  weakly  manned) 
to  meet  this  body  of  the  enemy,  as  yet  unopposed  by  any  part 
of  our  force.  The  first  detachment  arrived  in  time  to  open  afire 
upon  the  assailants  before  they  reached  the  shore,  and  it  was 
well  directed  and  deadly.  Nevertheless  their  great  superiority 
offeree,  adequately  aided  by  artillery,  enabled  them  to  land,  and 
by  extending  themselves,  to  gain  the  heights.  On  this  ground 
it  was  that  a  sharp  contest  ensued ;  speaking  of  which  in  his 
official  account  of  the  action,  General  Howe  says,  "  it  was  well  de 
fended  bv  a  body  of  the  rebels :"  and  so  it  undoubtedly  was,  when 


ISSUE  OF  THE  ENGAGEMENT DEFENCES.  197 

it  is  considered  that  but  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  our  men, 
with  a  single  eighteen  pounder,  were  opposed  by  eight  hundred 
British  troops,  under  cover  of  a  battery.  But  overpowered  by 
numbers,  the  resistance  was  ineffectual ;  and  the  detachments 
engaged  in  it,  retired  towards  the  fort.  Rawlings,  on  his  part, 
made  a  gallant  stand  against  the  Hessians  under  the  command  of 
General  Knyphausen,  to  whom  had  been  assigned  the  perilous 
glory,  of  gaining  this  strong  piece  of  ground,  differing  essentially 
from  that  on  the  borders  of  Haerlem  river,  in  the  want  of  oppo 
site  heights  for  batteries.  The  Germans  here  lost  a  great 
many  men  ;  but  as  they  had  been  bought  by  his  Britannic  ma 
jesty,  he  had  an  unquestionable  right  to  make  a  free  use  of  them; 
and  this  seemed  to  be  the  conviction  of  General  Howe.  Raw- 
lings  also  suffered  a  good  deal  in  proportion  to  his  numbers. 
He  had  I  think  two  officers  killed  ;  and  himself,  Major  Williams, 
and  some  others,  were  wounded;  one  of  whom,  a  Mr.  Hanson, 
died  in  New  York.  The  attainment  of  the  post  of  Rawlings, 
put  the  Hessians  in  possession  of  the  ground  which  commanded 
the  fort;  as  that,  possessed  by  the  British,  commanded  the  open 
field.  Hence,- the  contest  might  be  said  to  be  at  an  end. 

Colonel  Cadwralader,  aware  that  he  was  placed  between  two 
fires;  and  that  the  victorious  enemy  in  his  rear,  \vould  soon  ex 
tend  themselves  across  the  island,  ordered  a  retreat  just  in  time 
to  prevent  his  interception. 

But  I  here  suspend  my  own  relation  for  the  purpose  of  in 
troducing  a  more  ample  statement  of  unquestionable  authenticity, 
obligingly  furnished  by  a  friend;  and  which,  embracing  more 
detail,  and  mentioning  some  interesting  particulars  but  little 
known,  will  occupy  a  few  pages,  much  to  the  advantage  of  these 
Memoirs. 

"  Fort  Washington  stood  on  an  eminence,  situated  on  the 
margin  of  the  Hudson,  or  North  river,  about  two  miles  and 
a-half  below  King's-bridge.  The  access  to  the  level  on  the  top 
of  it,  is  steep  and  difficult  on  every  side,  except  on  the  south, 
where  the  ground  is  open,  and  the  ascent  gradual,  to  the  fort. 
The  hill  extends  along  the  North  river  about  half  a  mile  from 
the  fort ;  and  at  the  termination  of  it  were  some  small  works, 

.  17* 


198  DISPOSITION  OF  THE  TROOPS. 

which,  with  the  natural  strength  of  the  place,  were  deemed  a 
sufficient  protection  against  the  enemy,  in  that  quarter. 

"  Nearly  opposite  to  the  fort,  on  the  west  side  of  Haerlem 
river,  a  body  of  men  was  posted  to  watch  the  motions  of  the 
enemy,  who  had  erected  works  on  the  high  and  commanding 
ground  east  of  that  river,  apparently  with  the  design  of  covering 
a  landing  of  troops  in  that  part  of  the  island  of  New  York. 
From  this  post,  along  the  west  side  of  Haerlem  river,  to  Colonel 
Roger  Morris's  house,  a  distance  of  not  less  than  a  mile  and 
a-half,  there  were  no  troops  posted  either  for  observation  or 
defence. 

"  About  a  mile  below  Morris's  house,  two  lines,  nearly  parallel 
to  each  other,  were  constructed  by  General  WASHINGTON, 
when  the  army  retired  to  the  upper  part  of  the  island,  after  the 
evacuation  of  New  York.  These  lines  extended  from  the  vici 
nity  of  Haerlem  river,  across  the  island,  to  the  North  river,  and 
were  in  length,  each  about  a  mile.  The  first  line,  towards 
New  York,  intersected  the  great  road  leading  to  King's-bridge, 
after  the  height  is  ascended  from  Haerlem  plains:  It  was  a 
slight  intrenchment,  with  a  few  weak  bastions,  without  platforms 
for  cannon,  and  furnished  with  no  other  ordnance  than  a  few 
old  iron  pieces  of  small  caliber,  scarcely  fit  for  use,  and  an  iron 
six  pounder  mounted  on  trucks.  The  second  line  was  stronger, 
both  from  the  nature  of  the  ground,  which  afforded  small  emi 
nences  for  bastions  closed  in  the  rear,  and  from  having  the  in 
tervals  between  the  bastions  strongly  picketed.  These  lines 
were  defensive  works  for  the  whole  American  army.  The  first 
line  seemed  calculated,  rather  for  retarding  the  approach  of  the 
enemy,  than  as  a  seriously  defensive  work ;  it  being  nothing 
more  (with  the  exception  of  the  bastions)  than  a  shallow  ditch, 
with  the  earth  thrown  outwards.  The  second  line  was  formed 
at  a  proper  distance  from  the  first,  so  as  to  protect  the  latter  by 
.musketry  as  well  as  cannon,  and  to  drive  out  the  enemy,  should 
he  get  possession  of  it:  but  this  second  line,  on  the  day  of  the 
attack  of  Fort  Washington,  was  from  necessity,  wholly  without 
defence,  either  of  troops,  or  artillery  of  any  description. 

"  A  summons  having  been  sent  by  General  Howe,  on  the  day 
preceding  the  attack,  to  Colonel  Magaw,  to  surrender  the  fort ; 


ACCOUNT  OF  THE  BATTLE.  199 

and  having  met  with  a  spirited  refusal,  the  attack  on  the  fort, 
and  the  posts  connected  with  it,  was  expected,  and  actually 
took  place  on  the  following  day.  Colonel  Magaw,  wrho  com 
manded  on  the  island,  remained  in  the  fort;  Colonel  Rawlings, 
writh  his  regiment  of  riflemen,  was  posted  on  the  rear  of  Mount 
Washington  ;  Colonel  Baxter,  with  his  regiment  of  militia,  on 
Haerlem  river,  opposite  Fort  Washington;  and  Colonel  Lambert 
Cadwalader,  at  the  first  line,  about  two  arid  a  half  miles  from 
the  fort,  with  about  eight  hundred  men,  including  a  reinforce 
ment  of  a  hundred  militia  sent  him,  about  ten  or  eleven  o'clock 
in  the  morning. 

"  The  operations  of  the  enemy  wrere  announced  early  in  the 
morning,  by  a  cannonade  on  Colonel  Raw-lings'  position,  and  a 
distant  one,  from  the  heights  of  Morrisania,  on  the  line  occupied 
by  Colonel  Cadwalader ;  the  former  with  the  view  of  facilitating 
the  attack  on  that  point,  by  three  thousand  Hessians ;  the  latter, 
to  favour  the  approach  of  Lord  Percy,  with  one  thousand  six 
hundred  men. 

"At  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  a  large  body  of  the  enemy 
appeared  on  Haerlem  plains,  preceded  by  their  field  pieces,  and 
advanced  with  their  whole  body,  towards  a  rocky  point  of  the 
height,  which  skirted  the  plains  in  a  southern  direction  from  the 
first  line,  and  at  a  considerable  distance  from  it — and,  commencing 
a  brisk  fire  on  the  small  work  constructed  there,  drove  out  the 
party  which  held  it,  consisting  of  twenty  men,  and  took  posses 
sion  of  it :  the  men  retiring  with  the  picket  guard  to  the  first  line. 
The  enemy,  having  gained  the  heights,  advanced  in  column,  on 
open  ground,  towards  the  first  line  ;  whilst  a  party  of  their  troops 
pushed  forward,  and  took  possession  of  a  small  unoccupied  work 
in  front  of  the  first  line ;  from  whence  they  opened  their  fire  with 
some  field  pieces  and  a  howitzer,  upon  the  line,  but  without 
effect.  When  the  column  came  within  proper  distance,  a  fire 
from  the  six-pounder  was  directed  against  it;  on  which,  the 
whole  column  inclined  to  their  left,  and  took  post  behind  a  piece 
of  woods,  where  they  remained.  As  it  was  suspected  that  they 
would  make  an  attempt  on  the  right  of  the  line,  under  cover  of 
the  wood,  that  part  was  strengthened. 

"Things  remained  in  this  position  for  about  an  hour  and  a 


200  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  BATTLE. 

half,  during  which  interval,  General  WASHINGTON,  with  Generals 
Putnam,  Greene,  Mercer,  and  other  principal  officers,  came  over 
the  North  River  from  Fort  Lee,  and  crossed  the  island  to  Morris's 
house ;  whence  they  viewed  the  position  of  our  troops,  and  the 
operations  of  the  enemy  in  that  quarter.  Having  remained  there 
a  sufficient  time  to  observe  the  arrangement  that  had  been  made 
for  the  defence  of  that  part  of  the  island,  they  retired  by  the  way 
they  came,  and  returned  to  Fort  Lee,  without  making  any  change 
in  the  disposition  of  the  troops,  or  communicating  any  new 
orders.  It  is  a  fact,  not  generally  known,  that  the  British  troops 
took  possession  of  the  very  spot  on  which  the  Commander-in- 
chief,  and  the  general  officers  with  him,  had  stood,  in  fifteen 
minutes  after  they  left  it. 

"  Colonel  Rawlings  was  some  time  late  in  the  morning  attacked 
by  the  Hessians,  whom  he  fought  with  great  gallantry  and  effect, 
as  they  were  climbing  the  heights ;  until  the  arms  of  the  riflemen 
became  useless  from  the  foulness  they  contracted  from  the  fre 
quent  repetition  of  their  fire.  From  this  incident,  and  the  great 
superiority  of  the  enemy,  Colonel  Rawlings  was  obliged  to  retire 
into  the  fort.  The  enemy  having  gained  the  heights,  imme 
diately  pushed  forward  towards  the  fort,  and  took  post  behind  a 
large  store-house,  within  a  small  distance  of  it. 

"  But  to  return  to  what  passed  at  the  first  line  towards  New 
York.  Intelligence  having  been  received  by  Colonel  Cadwala- 
der,  that  the  enemy  were  coming  down  Haerlem  river  in  boats, 
to  land  in  his  rear,  he  detached  Captain  Lenox  with  fifty  men,  to 
oppose  them,  and,  on  farther  information,  a  hundred  more,  with 
Captains  Edwards  and  Tudor.*  This  force,  with  the  addition  of 
about  the  same  number  from  Fort  Washington,  arrived  on  the 
heights  near  Morris's  house,  early  enough  to  fire  on  the  enemy  in 
their  boats,!  which  was  done  with  such  effect,  that  about  ninety 
were  killed  and  wounded.  The  great  superiority,  however,  of  the 

*  The  subalterns  under  Captain  LENOX,  were  Lieutenants  LAWRENCE  and 
TILTON,  and  Ensign  M'!NTIRE — the  others  arc  unknown. 

t  This  body  from  the  Fort,  from  the  testimony  of  an  eye  witness,  and  by  per 
mission  of  the  gentleman  who  furnishes  the  account,  I  am  authorized  to  state, 
did  not  arrive  so  early ;  neither  was  it  engaged.  It  consisted  of  the  Flying 
Camp,  and  could  not  be  brought  into  action. 


ACCOUNT  OF  THE  BATTLE.  201 

enemy,  (their  numbers  amounting  to  about  eight  hundred  men,) 
prevailed  over  the  bravery  and  good  conduct  of  our  troops,  who, 
with  some  loss  retired  to  Fort  Washington. 

"  This  body  of  the  enemy  immediately  advanced,  and  took  pos 
session  of  the  grounds  in  advance  of,  and  a  little  below  Morris's 
house,  where  some  soldiers'  huts  had  been  left  standing,  not  far 
from  the  second  line.  This  position  of  the  enemy  being  ob 
served,  it  was  expected  they  would  march  down  and  take  pos 
session  of  the  second  line,  (which  from  the  want  of  men,  was 
entirely  without  defence,)  and  thereby  place  the  troops  in  the  first 
line,  between  two  fires.  This  important  movement  did  not,  how 
ever,  take  place  ;  owing,  as  was  afterwards  learned,  to  the  appre 
hension  they  entertained,  that  the  enclosed  bastions  concealed 
therein  a  number  of  men,  whose  fire  would  greatly  annoy  them. 
They  hesitated ; — and  this  being  perceived,  from  the  delay  that 
took  place,  Colonel  Cadwalader,  to  avoid  the  fatal  consequences 
that  must  have  resulted  from  the  expected  movement,  immediately 
resolved  to  retire  to  the  fort,  with  the  troops  under  his  command ; 
and  as  the  measure  required  promptness  and  activity,  he  sent 
orders  to  the  right  and  left  of  the  line,  to  move  off  towards  Fort 
Washington,  on  the  signal  being  given ;  which,  after  a  proper 
interval  of  time,  being  made,  the  wThole  was  put  in  motion,  (those 
on  the  left  retiring  obliquely  towards  the  centre  of  the  second 
line,)  passed  the  second  line  and  when  they  came  opposite  to 
the  body  of  the  enemy  posted  at  the  huts,  received  their  fire, 
which  was  returned  in  an  irregular  manner ;  and,  pursuing  the 
road  which  led  to  the  fort,  under  the  heights  by  the  North  river, 
arrived  there  with  little  or  no  loss. 

"  The  militia  under  Colonel  Baxter,  posted  on  Haerlem  river, 
were  attacked  by  the  British  guards  and  light  infantry,  who 
landed  on  the  island  of  New  York,  protected  by  the  fire  from  the 
work  on  the  heights  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river.  A  short 
contest  ensued ;  but  our  troops,  overpowered  by  numbers,  and 
leaving  behind  them  Colonel  Baxter,  who  was  killed  by  a  British 
officer  as  he  was  bravely  encouraging  his  men,  retired  to  the 
fort.  The  guards  and  light  infantry,  then  crossed  the  island  to 
the  heights  on  the  North  river,  a  little  below  the  fort,  under 


202  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  BATTLE. 

which  Colonel  Cadwalader  with  his  party,  but  a  few  minutes  be 
fore,  had  passed,  in  his  way  to  the  fort."* 

*  General  WILKINSON  says,  "  I  conversed  with  General  GREENE,  respecting  the 
affair  at  Fort  Washington,  who  was  chiefly  blamed  for  attempting  to  hold  the 
place,  and  I  recollect  well,  he  observed,  '  I  would  to  God  we  had  had  ten  thousand 
men  there.'  He  was  of  opinion  the  ground  was  tenable,  and  that  it  was  lost  by 
the  insufficiency  of  our  force,  and  I  am  inclined  to  the  same  opinion." — Mems., 
vol.  1.— ED. 


AUTHOR'S  PERILOUS  SITUATION.  203 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Author  a  Prisoner.— Conduct  of  British  Officers  and  Soldiers.— The  Author's 
Treatment. — State  of  Prisoners. — Visits  to  Prisoners. — Treatment. — Major 
Maitland. — Reflections. — Americans  and  English  contrasted. — Character  of 
General  Howe. — Killed  and  Wounded. — Character  of  Mr.  Eecket. — Humanity 
of  British  Officers.- — March  of  Prisoners  to  New  York. — Occurrences  on  the 
Road. — Generosity  of  a  Highlander. — Disposal  of  Prisoners. — Officers'  Quar 
ters. — Baggage  Restored. — Author  appears  in'Regimentals. — Reflections. 

THESE  things,  or  the  greater  part  of  them,  had  probably  passed 
before  I  had  abandoned  my  station,  taken  as  already  mentioned, 
in  pursuance  of  orders  for  strnegthening  the  right.  The  line  of 
entrenchment  was  too  extensive  to  be  manned  without  leaving 
intervals.  Some  of  these  were  large,  and  intervening  hillocks  cut 
off  the  communication  in  some  parts;  otherwise,  the  whole  of  us 
under  the  command  of  Colonel  Cadwalader  must  have  retreated 
at  the  same  time.  The  first  notice  that  I  had  of  the  entrenchment 
being  given  up,  was  from  an  officer  I  did  not  know-,  posted  at 
some  distance  from  me,  going  off  with  his  men.  I  called  to  him 
to  know  what  he  meant.  He  answered,  that  he  was  making  the 
best  of  his  way  to  the  fort,  as  the  rest  of  the  troops  had  retreated 
long  since.  As  I  had  no  reason  to  doubt  his  veracity,  I  imme 
diately  formed  my  company,  and  began  to  retire  in  good  order, 
which  is  more  than  I  can  say  of  my  neighbour  or  his  corps;  and 
amidst  all  the  chagrin,  I  afterwards  felt,  that  the  events  of  the 
day  had  been  so  unpropitious  to  our  glory,  I  had  the  satisfaction 
to  reflect,  that  the  men  were  always  obedient,  and  ready  to  par 
take  of  any  danger  their  officers  would  share  with  them.  This, 
however,  was  but  matter  of  inference;  since  I  never  was  at 
tacked,  though  continually  fronted  by  a  strong  force,  and  incom 
moded  by  their  ordnance,  though  without  being  injured  by  it. 
After  proceeding  some  hundred  paces  I  reflected  that  I  had  no 


204  AUTHOR  TAKEN  PRISONER. 

orders  for  what  I  was  doing ;  and  that,  although  I  had  no  right 
to  expect  exactness,  in  a  moment  of  such  pressure,  it  was  yet 
possible  my  movement  might  be  premature.  I  knew  nothing  of 
what  had  passed  in  the  centre,  or  of  the  enemy  being  master  of 
the  high  grounds  in  my  rear  about  Colonel  Morris's  house,  from 
•which,  no  doubt,  had  proceeded  the  cannon  balls  that  whizzed 
by  us;  and  for  which,  coming  in  that  direction,  I  could  not  ac 
count.  To  be  entirely  correct  in  my  conduct,  I  here  halted  my 
men,  and  went  myself  to  a  rising  ground  at  some  distance,  from 
which  I  might  have  a  view  of  the  lines  where  Colonel  Cadwala- 
der  had  been  posted.  They  seemed  thoroughly  manned;  and 
at  the  instant,  I  beckoned  to  the  officers  to  march  back  the  com 
pany,  which  they  immediately  put  in  motion;  but  looking  more 
attentively,  I  perceived  that  the  people  I  saw,  were  British  and 
Hessian  troops  that  were  eagerly  pressing  forward.  Upon  this, 
I  hastened  back  to  my  party,  and  as  there  was  no  time  to  be 
lost,  being  in  a  situation  to  be  cut  to  pieces  by  a  corps  of  ca 
valry,  I  ordered  them  under  the  command  of  my  ensign,  to  make 
the  best  of  their  way  and  join  the  body  of  men,  which  none 
doubted  being  our  own,  on  the  heights  beyond  the  inner  lines; 
and  that  I  would  follow  them  as  fast  as  I  could,  for  I  was  a  good 
deal  out  of  breath  with  the  expedition,  I  had  used  in  going  to 
and  returning  from  the  ground,  which  gave  me  a  view  of  the 
outer  lines.  I  accordingly  walked  on,  accompanied  by  Forrest 
who  did  not  choose  to  leave  me  alone.  Edwards  was  not  with 
me,  having  been  promoted  to  the  command  of  a  company  and 
employed  as  already  mentioned.  The  body  I  had  pointed  to  and 
directed  my  company  to  join,  under  the  idea  of  their  being  our 
own  men,  turned  out  to  be  the  British,  consisting  of  Colonel 
Stirling's  divisions  of  Highlanders,  a  circumstance  that  was  not 
at  first  perceived  on  account  of  the  distance;  nor,  owing  to  the 
smoke  of  an  irregular  fire  which  they  kept  up,  and  the  entrench 
ment  in  which  they  were  posted,  covering  them  to  the  breast, 
was  it  manifest  until  we  got  pretty  near  them.  Upon  this  dis 
covery,  we  held  a  moment's  consultation,  and  the  result  was, 
that  hemmed  in  as  we  were  on  every  side,  there  was  no  chance 
of  escaping ;  and  that  there  was  nothing  left  but  to  give  our 
selves  up  to  them.  Had  we  been  aware,  at  first,  of  their  being 


HIS  SUBSEQUENT  TREATMENT.  205 

the  enemy,  we  might  have  eluded  them  by  shaping  our  way 
along  the  shore  of  the  Hudson,  as  my  men,  soon  discovering  who 
they  were,  had  done ;  but  in  full  confidence  that  they  were  our 
people,  I  bent  my  course  in  the  opposite  direction  to  the  main 
body,  in  the  view  of  meeting  Colonel  Cadwalader  there,  and 
taking  his  farther  orders.  Thus  circumstanced,  we  clubbed  our 
fusees  in  token  of  surrender,  and  continued  to  advance  towards 
them.  They  either  did  not  or  would  not  take  the  signal ;  and 
though  there  were  but  two  of  us,  from  whom  they  could  not  pos 
sibly  expect  a  design  to  attack,  they  did  not  cease  firing  at  us. 
I  may  venture  to  say,  that  not  less  than  ten  guns  were  discharged 
with  their  muzzles  towards  us,  within  the  distance  of  forty  or 
fifty  yards;  and  I  might  be  nearer  the  truth  in  saying,  that  some 
were  let  off  within  twenty.  Luckily  for  us,  it  was  not  our  rifle 
men  to  whom  we  were  targets;  and  it  is  astonishing  how  even 
these  blunt  shooters  could  have  missed  us.  But  as  we  were 
ascending  a  considerable  hill,  they  shot  over  us.  I  observed 
they  took  no  aim,  and  that  the  moment  of  presenting  and  firing, 
was  the  same.  As  I  had  full  leisure  for  reflection,  and  was  per 
fectly  collected,  though  fearful  that  their  design  was  to  give  no 
quarter,  I  took  off  my  hat  with  such  a  sweep  of  the  arm  as  could 
not  but  be  observed,  without  ceasing  however  to  advance. 
This  had  the  intended  effect:  A  loud  voice  proceeded  from  the 
breast-work,  and  the  firing  immediately  ceased.  An  officer  of 
the  forty-second  regiment  advanced  towards  us;  and  as  I  was 
foremost,  he  civilly  accosted  me  by  asking  me  my  rank.  Being 
informed  of  this,  as  also  of  Forrest's,  he  inquired  where  the  fort 
lay  and  where  Colonel  Magaw  was.  I  pointed  in  the  direction 
of  the  fort,  and  told  him  I  had  not  seen  Colonel  Magaw  during 
the  day.  Upon  this,  he  put  us  under  the  care  of  a  sergeant  and 
a  few  men,  and  left  us.  The  sergeant  was  a  decent  looking 
man,  who,  on  taking  us  into  custody,  bestowed  upon  us  in  broad 
Scotch  the  friendly  admonition,  of  Young  men,  ye  should  never 
fight  against  your  king.  The  little  bustle  produced  by  our  sur 
render,  was  scarcely  over,  when  a  British  officer  on  horseback, 
apparently  of  high  rank,  rode  up  at  full  gallop,  exclaiming, 
What!  ta/dng  prisoners  !  Kill  them,  /all  every  man  of  them.  My 
back  was  towards  him  when  he  spoke ;  and  although  by  this 
18 


206  HIS  SUBSEQUENT  TREATM3NT. 

time,  there  was  none  of  that  appearance  of  ferocity  in  the  guard, 
which  would  induce  much  fear,  that  they  would  execute  his 
command,  I  yet  thought  it  well  enough  to  parry  it,  and  turning 
to  him,  I  took  off  my  hat,  saying,  Sir  1  put  myself  under  your 
protection.  No  man  was  ever  more  effectually  rebuked.  His 
manner  was  instantly  softened:  He  met  my  salutation  with  an 
inclination  of  his  body,  and  after  a  civil  question  or  two,  as  if  to 
make  amends  for  his  sanguinary  mandate,  he  rode  off  towards 
the  fort,  to  which  he  had  inquired  the  way. 

Though  I  had  delivered  up  my  arms,  I  had  not  adverted  to  a 
cartouch  box  which  I  wore  about  my  waist,  and  which,  having 
once  belonged  to  his  Britannic  Majesty,  presented  in  front,  the 
gilded  letters  G.  R.  Exasperated  at  this  trophy  on  the  body  of 
a  rebel,  one  of  the  soldiers  seized  the  belt  with  great  violence, 
and  in  the  attempt  to  unbuckle  it,  had  nearly  jerked  me  off  my 
legs.  To  appease  the  offended  loyalty  of  the  honest  Scot,  I 
submissively  took  it  off  and  delivered  it  to  him,  being  conscious 
that  I  had  no  longer  any  right  to  it.  At  this  time  a  Hessian  came 
up.  He  was  not  a  private,  neither  did  he  look  like  a  regular 
officer:  He  was  some  retainer,  however,  to  the  German  troops; 
and  was  as  much  of  a  brute  as  any  one  I  have  ever  seen  in  the 
human  form.  The  wretch  came  near  enough  to  elbow  us;  and 
half  unsheathing  his  sword,  with  a  countenance  that  bespoke  a 
most  vehement  desire  to  use  it  upon  us,  he  grinned  out  in  broken 
English,  Eh,  you  rebel,  you  dam  rebel !  I  had  by  this  time  entire 
confidence  in  our  Scotchmen;  and  therefore  regarded  the  caitiff 
with  the  same  indifference,  that  I  should  have  viewed  a  caged 
wild  beast,  though  with  much  greater  abhorrence. 

These  transactions  which  occupied  about  ten  minutes,  passed 
upon  the  spot  on  which  we  were  taken,  whence  we  were  marched 
to  an  old  stable  or  out  house,  where  we  found  about  forty  or  fifty 
prisoners  already  collected,  principally  officers,  of  whom  I  only 
particularly  recollect  Lieutenant  Brodhead  of  our  battalion.  We 
remained  on  the  outside  of  the  building;  and  for  nearly  an  hour, 
sustained  a  series  of  most  intolerable  abuse.  This  chiefly  pro 
ceeded  from  the  officers  of  the  light  infantry  ;  for  the  most  part, 
young  and  insolent  puppies,  whose  worthlessness  was  apparently 
their  recommendation  to  a  service,  which  placed  them  in  the 


STATE  OF  PRISONERS.  207 

post  of  danger,  and  in  the  way  of  becoming  food  for  powder, 
their  most  appropriate  destination  next  to  that  of  the  gallows. 
The  term  rebel,  with  the  ephithet  damned  before  it,  was  the 
mildest  we  received.  We  were  twenty  times  told,  sometimes 
with  a  taunting  affectation  of  concern,  that  we  should  every  man 
of  us  be  hanged;  and  were  nearly  as  many  times  paraded  with 
the  most  inconceivable  insolence,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
whether  there  were  not  some  deserters  among  us ;  and  these  were 
always  sought  for  among  the  officers,  as  if  the  lowest  fellow  in 
their  army  was  fit  for  any  post  in  ours.  " There's  a  fellow,"  an 
upstart  Cockney  would  exclaim,  "that  I  could  swear  was  a  de 
serter."  "What  countrymen,  are  you  sir?  Did  you  not  belong 
to  such  a  regiment?" — I  was  not  indeed  challenged  for  a  deserter; 
but  the  indignity  of  being  ordered  about  by  such  contemptible 
whipsters,  for  a  moment  unmanned  me,  and  I  was  obliged  to 
apply  my  handkerchief  to  my  eyes.  This  was  the  first  time  in 
my  life,  that  I  had  been  the  victim  of  brutal,  cowardly  oppression; 
and  I  was  unequal  to  the  shock ;  but  my  elasticity  of  mind  was 
soon  restored,  and  I  viewed  it  with  the  indignant  contempt  it 
deserved. 

For  the  greater  convenience  of  guarding  us,  we  were  removed 
from  this  place,  to  the  barn  of  Colonel  Morris's  house,  already 
mentioned,  which  had  been  the  head  quarters  of  our  army,  as  it 
now  was  of  the  royal  one.  This  was  the  great  bank  of  deposit 
for  prisoners  taken  out  of  the  fort;  and  already  pretty  well  filled. 
It  was  a  good  new  building  and  we  were  ushered  into  it  among  the 
rest,  the  whole  body  consisting  of  from  a  hundred  and  fifty,  to 
two  hundred,  composing  a  motley  group  to  be  sure.  Here  were 
men  and  officers  of  all  descriptions,  regulars  and  militia,  troops 
continental  and  state,  some  in  uniforms,  some  without  them,  and 
some  in  hunting  shirts,  the  mortal  aversion  of  a  red  coat.  Some 
of  the  officers  had  been  plundered  of  their  hats  and  some  of  their 
coats;  and  upon  the  new  society  into  which  we  were  introduced, 
with  whom  a  showy  exterior  was  all  in  all,  we  were  certainly  not 
calculated  to  make  a  very  favourable  impression.  I  found  Cap 
tain  Tudor  here,  of  our  regiment,  who,  if  I  mistake  notf  had  lost 
his  hat.  It  was  here  also  that  not  long  after  I  saw  Ensign  Sted- 
diford  of  our  regiment  at  a  little  distance,  at  large,  and  in  close 
conference  with  Major  Skene.  So  friendly  an  intercourse  be- 


208  VISIT  TO  PRISONERS. 

tween  a  British  officer  and  a  rebel  was  so  strikingly  in  contrast 
to  the  general  insolence  I  had  received  and  was  still  treated  with, 
that  it  baffled  every  hypothesis  I  could  frame  to  account  for  it. 
But  it  was  afterwards  explained  by  Steddiford.  The  garrison 
had  capilulated;  and  Skene  being  desirous  to  walk  to  this  part 
of  the  field,  had  proposed  to  Steddiford  to  accompany  him,  ob 
serving  with  the  frankness  and  circumspection  of  an  old  soldier, 
that  each  would  be  a  safeguard  to  the  other.  "I,"  says  he, 
"shall  protect  you  from  our  men,  and  you  will  protect  me  from 
yours,  should  there  be  any  of  either  lurking  in  the  woods,  and 
disposed  to  hostility."  Shortly  after,  it  was  announced  by  an 
huzza,  that  the  fort  had  surrendered.  This,  I  think,  was  about 
two  o'clock. 

The  officer  who  commanded  the  guard  in  whose  custody  we 
now  were,  was  an  ill- looking,  low-bred  fellow  of  this  dashing 
corps  of  light  infantry.  Had  dates  accorded,  he  might  have  been 
supposed  the  identical  scoundrel  that  had  sat  for  the  portrait  of 
Northerton,  in  Fielding's  Tom  Jones.  As  I  stood  as  near  as 
possible  to  the  door  for  the  sake  of  air,  the  enclosure  in  which 
we  were  being  extremely  crowded  and  unpleasant,  I  was  particu* 
larly  exposed  to  his  brutality;  and  repelling  with  some  severity, 
one  of  his  attacks,  for  I  was  becoming  desperate  and  careless  of 
safety,  the  ruffian  exclaimed,  Not  a  word,  sir,  or  damme  F II  give 
you  my  butt,  at  the  same  time  clubbing  his  fusee  and  drawing  it 
back  as  if  to  give  the  blow.  I  fully  expected  it,  but  he  con 
tented  himself  with  the  threat.  I  observed  to  him  that  I  was  in 
his  power,  and  disposed  to  submit  to  it,  though  not  proof  against 
every  provocation. 

As  to  see  the  prisoners  was  a  matter  of  some  curiosity,  we 
were  complimented  with  a  continual  succession  of  visitants, 
consisting  of  officers  of  the  British  army.  There  were  several  of 
these  present,  when  a  Serjeant-Major  came  to  take  an  account  of 
us;  and  particularly,  a  list  of  such  of  us  as  were  officers.  This 
sergeant,  though  not  uncivil,  had  all  that  animated,  degage  impu 
dence  of  air,  which  belongs  to  a  self-complacent  non-commis 
sioned  officer  of  the  most  arrogant  army  in  the  world ;  and  with 
his  pen  in  his  hand  and  his  paper  on  his  knee,  applied  to  each  of 
us,  in  turn,  for  his  rank.  He  had  just  set  mine  down,  when  he 


TREATMENT  OF  PRISONERS.  209 

came  to  a  little  squat,  militia  officer  from  York  county,  who, 
somewhat  to  the  deterioration  of  his  appearance,  had  substituted 
the  dirty  crown  of  an  old  hat,  for  a  plunder-worthy  beaver  that 
had  been  taken  from  him  by  a  Hessian.  He  was  known  to  be 
an  officer  from  having  been  assembled  among  us,  for  the  purpose 
of  enumeration.  You  are  an  officer ,  sir  !  said  the  sergeant ;  Yes, 
was  the  answer.  Your  rank,  sir !  with  a  significant  smile.  I  am 
a  keppun,  replied  the  little  man  in  a  chuff,  firm  tone.  Upon  this, 
there  was  an  immoderate  roar  of  laughter  among  the  officers  about 
the  door,  who  were  attending  to  the  process ;  and  I  am  not  sure, 
I  did  not  laugh  myself.  When  it  had  subsided,  one  of  them  ad 
dressing  himself  to  me,  observed  with  a  compliment  that  had  much 
more  of  sour  than  sweet  in  it,  that  he  was  really  astonished  I  should 
have  taken  any  thing  less  than  a  regiment.  To  remove  as  much 
as  possible  the  sting  of  this  sarcastic  thrust  at  our  service,  for  I 
must  confess  I  was  not  sufficiently  republican,  to  be  insensible  of 
its  force,  I  told  him,  that  the  person  who  had  produced  their  mer 
riment,  belonged  to  the  militia,  and  that  in  his  line  as  a  farmer^ 
he  wras  no  doubt  honest  and  respectable. 

Although  the  day  was  seasonably  cool,  yet  from  the  number 
crowded  in  the  barn,  the  air  within  was  oppressive  and  suffo 
cating,  which,  in  additon  to  the  agitations  of  the  day,  had  pro 
duced  an  excessive  thirst;  and  there  was  a  continual  cry  for 
water.  I  cannot  say  that  this  want  was  unattended  to:  the 
soldiers  were  continually  administering  to  it  by  bringing  water 
in  a  bucket.  But  though  we,  who  were  about  the  door,  did 
well  enough,  the  supply  was  very  inadequate  to  such  a  number 
of  mouths;  and  many  must  have  suffered  much.  Our  situation 
brought  to  my  recollection  that  of  Captain  Holwell  and  his  party,  in 
the  black  hole  at  Calcutta ;  and  had  the  weather  been  equally  hot, 
we  should  not  have  been  much  better  off.  The  fellow  who  had 
menaced  me  with  his  butt,  stood  with  his  fusee  across  the  door, 
and  kept  us  closely  immured.  I  did  not  choose  to  ask  favours  of 
him;  but  addressing  myself  to  the  officers  without  the  door,  who 
had  been  put  in  good  humour  by  their  laugh  at  our  poor  militia 
captain,  I  asked  them,  if  they  made  no  distinction  between- 
officers  and  privates.  Most  certainly  we  do,  said  one  of  them. 
I  then  observed,  that  it  w.ould  be  vecy  agreeable  to  us  to  be- 

IS* 


210  MAJOR  MA1TLAND. 

somewhat  separated  from  them  now,  and  to  receive  a  little  fresh 
air.  Upon  this,  the  sentinels  were  withdrawn  to  the  distance  of 
about  ten  or  twelve  feet  from  the  building;  and  we  were  told, 
that  such  of  us  as  were  officers  might  walk  before  the  door. 
This  was  a  great  relief  to  us,  as  well  as  to  the  men  in  giving 
them  more  room. 

As  I  was  walking  here,  a  gentleman,  who  I  was  afterwards 
informed  was  Major  Maitland,  of  the  71st,  I  think,  came  up  and 
entered  into  conversation  with  me.  He  had  one  arm  in  a  sling, 
and  it  appeared  to  me,  he  had' lost  a  hand.  He  regretted  the 
extremes  to  which  matters  had  been  carried,  and  touched  upon 
our  infatuation,  as  he  termed  it,  rn  attempting  resistance  to  the 
power  of  Britain.  He  assumed  the  unqualified  justness  of  her 
cause,  and  the  consequent  unjustness  of  ours;  and  adverting  to 
the  day's  business,  he  observed,  that  I  must  be  aware,  that  as 
we  were  taken  by  storm  (speaking  of  myself  and  the  other 
prisoners  here  collected)  our  lives  were  forfeited  by  the  laws  of 
war,  and  that  we  might  have  been  put  to  the  sword,  without 
any  just  impeachment  of  their  humanity;  but  such,  added  he,  is 
the  clemency  of  the  British  nation,  that  we  have  not  availed 
ourselves  of  the  right,  but  shall,  on  the  contrary,  treat  you  with 
every  indulgence.  This  was  delivered  in  the  tone  of  a  lecture 
which  precludes  the  necessity  of  a  reply.  Accordingly,  I  gave 
it  none  ;  and  as  the  manner  was  mild  and  well  intended  withal, 
I  received  it  in  good  part:  as  civility  was  a  rarity,  the  value  of 
this  attention  was  proportionably  enhanced  and  duly  appreciated. 
The  Major  confirmed  to  me  the  surrender  of  the  fort,  which  I 
had  at  first  doubted,  though  I  can  hardly  tell  why.  I  certainly 
never  had  the  expectation  that  it  could  have  held  out  long:  and 
I  cannot  here  forbear  remarking,  that  its  incapacity  for  defence, 
is  unequivocally  recognised  by  General  WASHINGTON  in  his 
official  letter  to  Congress.  "  I  sent,"  says  he,  "  a  billet  to 
Colonel  Magaw,  directing  him  to  hold  out,  and  I  would  en 
deavour  in  the  evening  to  bring  oil*  the  garrison  if  the  fortress 
could  riot  be  maintained,  as  I  did  not  expect  it  could,  the  enemy 
being  possessed  of  the  adjacent  ground."  Now,  had  the  attempt 
been  to  defend  the  fort  alone,  instead  of  its  environs,  which  had 
constituted  the  post  of  the  main  army,  this  effect  of  the  enemy's 


REFLECTIONS.  211 

possessing  the  adjacent  ground,  would  at  once  have  taken  place  ; 
and  the  fort  have  been  untenable.  The  fort  then,  was  not  cal 
culated  upon  as  the  point  to  be  defended  ;  but  it  was  the  posi 
tion  in  the  open  field.  Hence,  we  were  improperly  termed  a 
garrison ;  and  two  thousand  men,  of  which  half  were  militia, 
were  pitted  against  the  whole  of  the  British  array.  For  seven 
thousand  troops  were  actually  employed  in  the  attack,  and  the 
rest  ready  to  support  them.  It  was  certainly  enough  then,  that 
we  fought  them  and  withstood  their  efforts  until  noon.  Because 
posts  had  been  evacuated  ;  because  Long  Island,  New  York, 
King's-bridge  and  White  Plains  had  successively  been  found 
untenable  by  the  concentred  force  of  the  continent,  this  handful 
was  to  apologize  to  the  country,  for  the  supposed  disgrace  of  our 
arms,  and  the  defective  constitution  of  our  military  system.  As 
"  the  troops  were  in  high  spirits  and  would  make  a  good  de 
fence,*1  why  e'en  let  these  southern  men,"  says  Generals  Put 
nam  and  Greene,  "take  the  glory  of  it  to  themselves:  Whatever 
be  their  fate,  they  will  kill  a  good  number  of  the  enemy  ;  and 
desperate  expedients  are  adapted  to  the  declining  state  of  our 
cause."  These,  it  is  true,  were  dashing  counsels  :  nevertheless, 
to  those  acquainted  with  the  unfriendly,  repulsive  temper  which 
prevailed  between  the  southern  and  eastern  troops,  and  the 
selfish  clannish  spirit,  testified  on  all  occasions  by  the  latter,! 
there  would  be  nothing  very  revolting  in  the  imputation  of  such 
motives  ;  in  which  also,  the  historian  in  the  Annual  Register, 
might  find  a  clew  to  the  solution  of  the  enigma,  why  an  opera 
tion  on  so  large  a  scale,  should  have  been  committed  to  but  a 
Colonel.  It  was,  at  any  rate,  a  current,  opinion  among  us  who 
were  taken,  that  we  had  been  sacrificed  to  selfish  feeling;  nor 
upon  a  cool  consideration  of  all  the  circumstances,  after  a  lapse 
of  four  and  thirty  years,  can  I  see  full  cause  to  renounce  that 
opinion.  I  do  not  believe,  at  least,  that  if  we  had  been  New 
England  men,  we  should  have  been  left  there.  If  Greene  really 
knew  no  better  at  this  era,  he  was  deeply  instructed  by  his  error  ; 

*  See  General  WASHINGTON'S  letter,  above  alluded  to,  which  shows  that  the 
defence  or  evacuation  of  the  post,  rested  on  the  discretion  of  General  GREENE. 

t  One  instance  of  it,  was  a  partial  exchange  of  prisoners,  continually  carried 
on  in  favour  of  the  eastern  offoers,  to  the  cruel  discouragement  of  the  southern. 


212  REFLECTIONS — GENERAL  GREENE. 

since,  whatever  were  the  characters  of  his  subsequent  general 
ship,  it  never  disclosed  symptoms  of  rash  audacity.* 

But  I  must  not  forget  I  am  a  captive.  Among  the  events 
of  the  afternoon  was  the  meeting  with  a  captain  Wilson,  of  the 
light  infantry,  who  called  to  inquire,  whether  there  were  any 
gentlemen  among  us  from  Philadelphia.  Upon  telling  him  that 
I  was,  he  asked  me  if  I  knew  Mr.  Philip  Wilson,  a  merchant 
of  that  city.  I  told  him  I  had  a  slight  acquaintance  with  him, 
as  also  with  his  brother  Edward.  "  They  are  both,"  says  he, 
"  brothers  of  mine,  and  though  I  detest  their  principles,"  he  was 
obliged  perhaps  to  go  farther  on  this  point  than  a  refined  polite 
ness  might  warrant,  on  account  of  his  brother  officers  and  soldiers 
standing  by,  "I  shall  be  happy  to  render  you  every  service  in 
my  power."  He  then  minuted  my  name  and  rank  on  his  tablets, 
as  he  did  Tudor's,  for  the  same  reason  of  knowing  his  brothers ; 
and  told  us,  he  would  do  himself  the  pleasure  of  calling  upon 
us  in  New  York.  He  informed  us,  also,  that  he  had  seen  Major 
WTest,  Captain  Lenox,  I  think,  and  some  others  of  our  friends  at 
the  fort,  who  had  been  inquiring  for  us.  During  the  remainder  of 

*  Our  author,  again  alludes  with  considerable  bitterness,  to  General  GREENE 
apparently  entertaining  an  opinion  derogatory  to  his  ability,  and  character  as 
a  military  man.  Posterity  has  already  assigned  to  this  truly  great  man,  his 
just  position,  by  the  side  of  WASHINGTON.  In  1786,  ALEXANDER  HAMILTON,  pro 
nounced  a  Eulogium  on  General  GREENE,  before  the  society  of  the  Cincinnati, 
at  New  York.  It  is  but  just,  that  the  deliberate  opinion  of  so  competent  a 
judge,  should  accompany  that  of  the  respectable  and  estimable  author  of  the 

('MEMOIRS'" 

"So  long  as  the  measures,  which  conducted  us  safely  through  the  first,  and 
most  critical  stages  of  the  war,  shall  be  remembered  with  approbation  ;  so  long 
as  the  enterprises  of  Trenton  and  Princeton,  shall  be  regarded  as  the  dawnings 
of  that  bright  day,  which,  afterwards  broke  forth  with  such  resplendent  lustre, 
so  long,  as  the  almost  magic  operations  of  the  remainder  of  that  remarkable 
winter,  distinguished,  not  more  by  these  events,  than  by  the  extraordinary  spec 
tacle  of  a  powerful  army,  straightened  within  narrow  limits,  by  the  phantom  of 
a  military  force,  and  never  permitted  to  transgress  those  limits  with  impunity, 
in  which  skill  supplied  the  place  of  means,  and  disposition  was  the  substitute  for 
an  army  ; — so  long,  I  say,  as  these  operations  shall  continue  to  be  the  object  of 
wonder,  so  long  ought  the  name  of  GREENE,  to  be  revered  by  a  grateful  country. 
To  attribute  to  him  a  portion  of  the  praise,  which  is  due  as  well  to  the  formation 
as  to  the  execution  of  the  plans,  that  effected  these  important  ends,  can  be  no 
derogation  from  that  wisdom  and  magnanimity,  which  knew  how  to  select,  and 
embrace  counsels  worthy  of  baing  pursued." — ED. 


KIND  TREATMENT  OF  THE  AUTHOR.  213 

the  day,  if  I  except  a  sight  of  General  Howe,  who  was  pointed 
out  to  me  at  a  little  distance,  and  the  burning  of  a  pretty  large 
brick  house  hard  by,  which  happened,  as  the  soldiers  told  us, 
through  the  carelessness  of  some  grenadiers  in  cooking  beef 
steaks,  nothing  occurred  of  any  consequence:  but  in  the  evening 
a  most  advantageous  change  took  place,  and  from  the  custody 
of  a  low  ruffian,  we  were  transferred  to  that  of  a  gentleman. 

This  was  Lieutenant  Beeket,  to  the  best  of  ray  recollection  of 
the  27th  or  37th  regiment.  Upon  taking  the  guard  in  the  even 
ing,  he  expressed  concern  about  our  lodging,  and  proposed  to  us 
to  accompany  him  into  the  barn-loft  to  see  whether  that  would 
do.  He  was  also  attended  by  some  of  his  brother  officers.  We 
ascended  by  a  very  good  step  ladder,  and  found  a  spacious  room, 
well  roofed  and  floored  and  clear  of  lumber.  "This,  gentlemen, 
I  think  may  do,"  said  he;  "  I  dare  say,  you  have  sometimes  lodged 
in  a  worse  place."  That  we  had,  we  told  him,  and  that  this  was 
as  comfortable  as  we  could  desire.  "  I  will  send  you,  if  I  can," 
said  he,  at  going  away,  "  a  bottle  of  wine  :  but  at  any  rate,  a  bottle 
of  spirits,"  and  as  to  the  latter,  he  was  as  good  as  his  word  ;  a  sol 
dier,  in  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  brought  it  to  us,  and  this  was 
our  substitute  for  supper  as  well  as  dinner.  In  the  morning,  a 
little  after  sunrise,  a  soldier  brought  me  Mr.  Becket's  compli 
ments  with  a  request  that  I  would  come  down  and  breakfast  with 
him,  bringing  two  of  my  friends  with  me,  as  he  had  not  the  means 
of  entertaining  more.  I  thankfully  accepted  his  invitation,  and 
took  with  me  Forrest  and  Tudor.  He  was  seated  on  a  bench 
before  the  door  with  a  good  fire  before  him,  and  the  soldiers  of 
the  guard  in  a  semicircle  about  him.  Besides  the  bench  we  were 
accommodated  with  a  chair  or  two,  and  he  gave  us  a  dish  of  very 
good  coffee  with  plenty  of  excellent  toast,  which  was  the  only 
morsel  we  had  eaten  for  the  last  twenty-four  hours  ;  more  fortu 
nate  in  this  than  our  fellow  sufferers,  who  got  nothing  until  the 
next  morning,  when  the  first  provisions  were  drawn.  The  sol 
diers  were  chatting  and  cracking  their  jokes  on  each  other  while 
we  breakfasted  ;  and  I  was  surprised  at  the  easy  familiarity  which 
seemed  to  prevail  between  them  and  their  officer.  But  it  ap 
peared  to  be  perfectly  understood  between  them,  that  their  cote 
ries,  though  so  near  each  other,  as  that  every  word  from  either 


214  AMERICAN  AND  ENGLISH  CONTRASTED. 

might  be  heard  by  both,  were  yet  entirely  distinct,  and  that  each 
had  an  exclusive  right  to  its  own  conversation :  still  they  did  not 
interrupt  ours,  being  silent  when  we  talked.  The  fact  was,  that 
Mr.  Becket  was  the  darling  of  his  soldiers  ;  and  one  of  them  told 
us,  that  we  should  find  few  men  like  him.  I  had  here  an  oppor 
tunity  to  observe,  the  striking  difference  between  their  appoint 
ments  and  ours.  While  our  poor  fellows,  were  some  of  them 
already  ragged,  and  even  the  best  of  them,  clad  in  flimsy,  thread 
bare  clothes,  with  worse  stockings  and  shoes,  these  were  tight 
and  comfortable  in  body  and  limbs ;  and  every  soldier  was  ac 
commodated  with  a  woollen  night  cap,  which  most  of  them  had 
yet  on.  A  sad  contrast  for  the  contemplation  of  the  American 
soldier !  Wisdom  is  no  less  attributable  to  nations  than  to  indi 
viduals  ;  and  the  British  army,  if  I  may  so  express  myself,  is  a 
sensible  establishment,  in  which  every  possible  regard  is  had  to 
both  comfort  and  safety.  Though,  in  extremities,  it  may  be  the 
business  of  the  soldier  to  die,  it  is  not  forgotten,  that  he  is  to  live 
if  he  can,  consistent  with  his  duty;  and  to  this  consideration,  it 
appears  to  me,  much  attention  was  paid  by  General  Howe  in  his 
operations  against  our  post.  He  could  not  have  had  a  doubt 
that  his  attack  would  be  successful,  yet  this  was  not  enough :  it 
must  be  conducted  with  an  eye  to  the  saving  of  men,  and  the 
purchasing  it  as  cheap  as  possible.  Had  he  immediately  ad 
vanced  against  our  lines  on  the  south,  the  loss  of  the  British 
troops,  would,  in  all  probability,  have  been  heavy;  whereas,  in 
making  his  principal  effort  by  Haerlem  river  under  cover  of  his 
batteries,  it  was  comparatively  small :  and  when  he  had  gained 
the  high  grounds  in  this  quarter,  he  was  at  once  master  of  the 
field. 

It  has  been  said,  that  we  could  not  have  chosen  a  better  ad 
versary  than  General  Howe;*  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  one 

*  Such,  at  least,  was  the  opinion  generally  entertained  in  England.     WALPOLE, 
who  certainly 

"  knew  not  how  to  spare, 
Yet  seldom  judged  unjustly," 

is  not  sparing  of  his  opinions.  He  writes  to  Horace  Mann,  7th  July,  1778, 
"  General  Howe  is  returned,  richer  in  money  than  laurels." 

WRAXALL'S  opinion  of  the  HOWES  has  already  been  quoted. — ED. 


CHARACTER  OF  GENERAL  HOWE.  215 

more  enterprising  and  less  methodical,  might  have  pushed  us 
harder :  Yet,  though  he  was  indolent,  often  treated  us  with  unne 
cessary  respect ;  and,  in  a  too  great  security  of  his  prey,  might 
have  meant  to  play  us,  as  an  angler  plays  a  fish  upon  his  hook, 
I  am  still  inclined  to  think,  that  when  he  acted,  he  fought  his 
army  to  advantage ;  that  his  dispositions  were  good,  and  planned 
with  much  discretion.  General  Burgoyne  bears  testimony  to  the 
faultless  propriety  of  his  disposition  at  Bunker's  Hill,  and  Gene 
ral  Lee  says,  that  "  in  the  capacity  of  an  executive  soldier,  he 
was  all  fire  and  activity,  brave  and  cool  as  Julius  Caesar."  In 
the  affair  of  Fort  Washington,  he  must  have  had  a  perfect  know 
ledge  of  the  ground  we  occupied.  This  he  might  have  acquired 
from  hundreds  in  New  York ;  but  he  might  have  been  more  tho 
roughly  informed  of  every  thing  desirable  to  be  known,  from  one 
Dement,*  an  officer  of  Magaw's  battalion,  who  was  intelligent  in 
points  of  duty,  and  deserted  to  the  enemy,  about  a  week  before 
the  assault.  This  man  was  probably  an  emissary  from  them  ;  he 
was  an  European,  I  recollect,  and  not  originally  an  officer  of  the 
corps  ;  his  name,  at  least,  is  not  among  those  appointed  by  the 
committee  of  safety. 

Our  situation  under  Mr.  Beckett  was  as  agreeable  as  it  could 
be  made.  The  term  rebel  was  entirely  banished  from  our  hear 
ing.  When  speaking  of  the  belligerents,  it  was  your  people  and 
our  people,  and  the  manners  of  all  about  him,  took  the  tone  he 
gave.  His  acquaintance  too,  seemed  of  an  order  wholly  different 
from  the  rakehells  we  had  seen  yesterday ;  nor  do  I  recollect  a 
single  instance  of  incivility  to  any  one  of  us,  while  under  his 
care.  But  notwithstanding  this,  my  heart  was  ill  at  ease.  It  was 

*  This  man's  name  once  helped  me  to  a  tolerable  pun,  and  as  this  species  of 
wit  is  often  detailed  by  Mr.  Boswell  in  his  Life  of  Johnson,  it  is  hoped  that  this 
single  instance  may  be  tolerated  here.  He  was  a  coarse,  ill-looking  fellow ;  and 

it  being  reported  in  New  York,  after  we  were  taken,  that  a  Miss  A ,  a  very 

pretty,  delicate  girl,  who  had  resided  at  Morrisania,  countenanced  him  as  her 
lover,  Doctor  McHENRY  was  expressing  his  astonishment  at  it,  when  I  repeated 
to  him  the  adage — Quos  deus  vult  perdere,  prius  elemental." — Note  by  Mr.  Gray- 
don. 

The  reader  will  pardon  this,  in  consideration  of  the  classic  character  and  pro- 
pensities  of  our  learned  pun-d\t;  but  it  must  be  the  last  trial,  at  least  in  this 
manner,  of  his  forbearance  ! — ED. 


216  KILLED  AND  WOUNDED. 

the  prey  of  chagrin  and  a  most  afflicting  uncertainty.  I  was 
deeply  mortified  at  the  idea  that  we  were  disgraced  in  the  eyes 
of  our  countrymen,  with  whom  the  belief  was  current,  that  Fort 
Washington  was  impregnable  ;  and  the  events  of  the  action  had 
been,  moreover,  peculiarly  unpropitious  to  the  fame  of  the  conti 
nental  battalions  from  Pennsylvania.  All  the  glory  that  was 
going,  had,  in  my  idea  of  what  had  passed,  been  engrossed  by 
the  regiment  of  Rawlings,  which  had  been  actively  engaged,  killed 
a  number  of  the  enemy,  and  lost  many  themselves  ;  and  although 
it  seldom,  if  ever,  happens,  that  there  is  close  fighting  in  every 
part  of  a  field,  yet  it  is  this  alone  which  obtains  eclat,  or,  that  in 
the  view  of  the  world,  escapes  contempt.  As  to  the  merit  of 
preserving  a  good  countenance  ;  being  firm  in  a  post ;  and  only 
relinquishing  it  when  no  longer  tenable,  or  expedient  to  be  re 
tained  ;  it  can  only  be  appreciated  by  persons  of  military  expe 
rience  :  It  is  at  best,  but  of  a  negative  kind,  and  has  nothing  in 
it  of  brilliancy.*  How  many  did  they  kill  ?  How  many  did  they 
lose  ?  are  the  questions  which  produce  the  data  on  which  martial 
fame  is  calculated  ;  and  these  were  much  against  us.  The  num 
ber  of  British  killed,  by  General  Howe's  account,  was  not  large ; 
and  the  whole  loss  is  fixed  by  Mr.  Stedman  at  eight  hundred,  by 
much  the  greater  part  of  which  was  sustained  by  the  Hessians, 
who  attacked  Rawlings,  in  a  post  extremely  difficult  of  access, 
naturally,  and  rendered  still  more  so  by  works  and  abbatis.  In 
the  two  battalions  of  Oadwalader  and  Magaw,  there  were  but  two 
or  three  officers  wounded,  and  one  killed,  or  rather  reputed  killed, 
as  I  have  recently  understood  that  he  survived  his  wounds,  though 
very  grievous,  and  was  some  years  after  living  at  Germantown. 
This  was  Captain  Miller,  who,  as  already  mentioned,  was  going 
to  shoot  a  sentinel  on  Montezores  island.  Among  the  wounded, 
was  Captain  Lenox,  very  slightly,  and  Ensign  M'Intire,  badly. 
As  to  myself,  I  was  conscious  I  had  done  my  duty,  but  this  must 

*  I  was  not  aware  at  this  lime,  that  detachments  from  our  regiments  had 
maintained  a  contest  which  entitled  them  to  the  praise  of  the  enemy ;  for  by  the 
concurrent  testimony  of  General  Howe,  and  the  historian,  Mr.  Stedman,  the 
ground  on  which  they  fought  was  obstinately  defended  :  and  I  have  still  so  much 
of  the  esprit  du  corps  and  pride  of  a  soldier  about  me,  as  to  be  gratified  by  the 
circumstance. 


KILLED  AND  WOUNDED.  217 

remain  unknown ;  and  I  was  unable  to  put  aside  the  reflection, 
that  we  were  both  sacrificed  and  disgraced  ;  captive  to  an  enemy, 
whose  system  it  was  to  treat  us  with  contempt ;  to  stigmatize  us 
as  rebels  and  load  us  with  opprobrium ;  and  that  all  this  was, 
probably,  but  a  prelude  to  the  impending  ruin  and  subjugation  of 
my  country.  In  addition  to  these  dismaying  considerations,  I 
thought  my  brother  killed.  I  had  intelligence  from  the  fort,  that  he 
was  not  there  ;  neither  had  any  one  seen  him  after  he  had  left  the 
intrenchments ;  though  it  was  suggested,  that  a  boat-load  of  the 
garrison  that  had  been  hard  pressed,  had  got  over  to  Fort  Lee, 
and  that  he  might  have  been  in  it.  There  was  also  room  to 
hope,  that  if  not  among  these,  (admitting  the  circumstance  of  the 
boats  having  gone  over  to  be  true,)  he  might  be  at  the  village  of 
Haerlem,  in  which,  it  was  said,  there  was  a  small  collection  of 
prisoners.  Being  impatient  to  satisfy  myself,  and  know  the  worst, 
I  applied  to  Mr.  Becket,  for  permission,  if  not  improper,  to  go 
to  Haerlem ;  and  if  not  successful  there,  to  traverse  the  field  of 
action.  He  granted  my  request  without  hesitation ;  but  observed, 
it  was  proper  I  should  have  a  soldier  with  me,  to  protect  me  and 
account  for  my  being  at  large ;  and  had  he  not  been  too  polite, 
he  might  have  added,  to  guard  me,  which,  it  would  have  been  a 
neglect  of  duty  in  him,  not  to  have  attended  to.  I  went  to  Haer 
lem,  but  received  no  satisfaction.  There  were,  indeed,  some 
prisoners  there,  in  the  custody  of  the  German  troops ;  but  they 
had  neither  seen  my  brother,  nor  heard  any  thing  of  him.  I  then 
returned,  and  took  my  course,  with  my  attendant,  along  the  banks 
of  Haerlem  river,  where  the  action  had  been  warm.  Within  a 
few  hundred  yards  of  the  barn  in  which  we  were  quartered,  I 
met  with  the  bodies  of  three  or  four  soldiers  of  our  battalion, 
who  had  fallen  by  musket-balls  ;  but  obtained  nothing  in  regard 
to  the  object  of  my  pursuit.  Weary  of  the  melancholy  errand, 
and  reflecting  that  the  day  would  be  insufficient  to  complete  the 
search,  I  gave  it  up  with  a  determination  to  look  as  much  as  pos 
sible  on  the  favourable  side  of  things,  and  wait  in  patience  for 
the  event.  Some  time  after,  Mr.  Becket,  who  took  a  friendly 
interest  in  the  cause  of  my  distress,  applied  to  a  gentleman  on 
horseback,  who  had  superintended  the  interment  of  the  dead, 
to  know  whether  he  had  met  with  the  body  of  an  officer  in  the 
19 


218 


CHARACTER  OF  MR.   BECKWITH. 


uniform  I  wore,  as  I  was  anxious  for  the  fate  of  a  brother,  who 
was  missing.  With  much  delicacy,  addressing  himself  to  me,  he 
replied :  "No  sir,  we  buried  no  one  with  linen  fine  enough  to  have 
been  your  brother."  This  information,  though  not  conclusive,  was 
encouraging :  and  the  liberality  of  our  present  treatment,  added 
to  the  fineness  of  the  morning,  though  pretty  sharp,  gave  a  fillip 
to  my  spirits,  and  a  more  pleasing  turn  to  my  thoughts.  The  sun 
looked  vastly  brighter  to  my  eyes  than  it  had  done  an  hour  before, 
and  I  began  to  flatter  myself  that  matters  might  not  be  so  bad, 
as  in  a  desponding  moment  I  had  supposed ;  that  ere  long  we 
should  be  exchanged,  and  have  an  opportunity  of  retrieving  the 
disgrace  of  our  recent  discomfiture.  In  this  frame  of  mind,  con 
versation  took  a  more  cheerful  course,  and  I  satisfied  some  of  Mr, 
Becket's  inquiries  respecting  our  affairs.  He  was  particularly 
inquisitive  as  to  the  character  of  General  WASHINGTON,  of  whom, 
from  misrepresentations,  no  doubt  propagated  for  political  pur 
poses,  he  had  received  some  very  erroneous  impressions.  Ap 
pearing  to  think  favourably  of  him  as  a  soldier,  and  as  to  the  ex 
terior  qualifications  of  a  gentleman,  he  had  yet  understood,  that 
he  was  a  man  of  desperate  fortune,  who,  having  wasted  his  own 
property,  had  also  dissipated  that  of  his  wife  by  play,  and  had 
now  no  resource  but  in  war  and  confusion.  I  assured  him  that 
nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  truth  than  this  idea ;  and  left 
him,  I  believe,  convinced  of  his  error.  Though  he  spoke  with 
much  moderation  of  the  contest,  the  merits  of  which  were  but 
glanced  at,  he  seemed  to  entertain  no  doubts  of  the  justice  of  the 
side  on  which  his  profession  had  placed  him,  as  well  as  our  in 
ability  to  withstand  the  power  of  the  mother  country.  He  was 
forcibly  struck  with  the  ill  condition  of  our  troops,  the  badness 
of  their  arms,  and  insufficiency,  in  every  respect,  of  our  appoint 
ments  ;  and  observed,  that  a  gentleman  of  our  army  required 
more  than  an  ordinary  degree  of  fortitude  to  take  the  field  under 
such  disadvantages. 

The  distinguished  liberality  of  Mr.  Becket's  deportment,  re 
quires  of  me  something  more  than  a  mere  passing  remembrance. 
If  my  memory  does  not  much  deceive  me,  he  told  us  he  was  an 
Irishman,  and  a  married  man.  His  figure  was  pleasing,  rather 
manly  than  elegant ;  tall,  and  though  not  corpulent,  indicative  of* 


CHARACTER  OF  MR.  BECKWITH.  219 

a  temperament  inclining  to  fulness.  His  face  was  fine  and  beamed 
with  candour  and  benevolence.  He  might  have  passed  for  a  man 
of  twenty-eight  or  thirty,  though  he  could  not  well  have  been  less 
than  thirty-five,  having  served,  as  he  informed  us,  in  the  war  of 
fifty-six,  probably  in  the  latter  part  of  it,  and  it  lasted  until  sixty- 
three.  He  mentioned  this  circumstance  in  adverting  to  the  can 
nonade  of  the  preceding  day,  which  he  said  had  far  exceeded  in 
heaviness,  any  he  had  ever  heard  in  Germany,  or  in  his  life.  He 
had  been  long  in  service,  and  appeared  to  be  generally  known 
and  respected  in  the  army ;  being,  indeed,  eminently  calculated 
to  be  beloved  and  admired ;  and  so  far  as  I  could  judge  of  him 
from  the  acquaintance  of  a  day,  he  possessed  the  qualities,  which, 
with  equal  power  would  have  made  him  a  Titus,  and  have  given 
him  a  legitimate  claim  to  the  designation  of  delicia  humani  generis. 
The  command  of  the  guard,  in  his  mode  of  exercising  the  func 
tion,  resembled  a  trust  committed  to  him  for  our  benefit ;  and  his 
conduct  bespoke  the  guardian  rather  than  the  jailer. 

About  noon,  a  young  officer,  smartly  dressed  and  well  mounted, 
rode  up  with  his  horse  in  a  foam,  and  pulling  out  his  watch,  ob 
served,  that  he  had  scarcely  been  an  hour  in  coming  from  New 
York.  He  was  a  genuine,  smooth-faced,  fresh-coloured  English 
man,  and  from  the  elegance  of  his  horse,  and  self-importance  of 
his  manner,  I  supposed  him  to  be  a  person  of  family  and  con 
sideration.  "  Becket,"  said  he,  looking  round  him,  "  this  is  a 
damn'd  strong  piece  of  ground — ten  thousand  of  our  men  would 
defend  it  against  the  world."  "I  don't  know  that,"  returned 
Becket;  uthe  ground,  to  be  sure  is  strong,  in  some  parts,  but 
you  go  too  far :  I  would  not  undertake  its  defence  against  the 
w^orld,  I  assure  you."  The  conversation  then  passed  to  other 
topics,  and  the  cavalier,  after  a  few  minutes,  rode  off  to  exhibit 
himself  elsewhere.  Several  other  incidents,  equally  unimportant, 
occurred  in  the  course  of  the  day ;  but  one,  that  from  the  sub 
stantial  good  which  attended  it  at  the  time,  I  cannot  omit :  And 
this  was,  that  from  the  table  of  General  Jones,  the  officer  of  the 
day,  with  whom  Mr.  Becket  dined,  there  came  to  me  about  two 
o'clock,  a  plate  or  small  dish  of  victuals  amply  supplied.  The 
contents  consisted  of  two  or  three  slices  of  corned  beef  with  cab- 


220  CIVILITY  AND  KINDNESS  OF  BRITISH  OFFICERS. 

bage,  the  leg  and  wing  of  a  turkey,  with  bread,  &c.  in  proportion. 
In  the  language  of  Lord  Kaimes,  "  could  peace  afford  a  sweeter 
scene,"  than  was  exhibited  in  the  conduct  of  this  kind,  generous, 
noble-hearted  gentleman !  To  be  admired,  it  only  needs  to  be 
faithfully  depicted,  and  this  is  all  my  feeble  pencil  aims  at.  It 
consisted  of  a  series  of  attentions,  as  delicate  as  they  were  friendly, 
of  which,  the  following  is  an  additional  instance.  In  the  evening 
we  were  drawn  up  for  the  purpose  of  being  marched  a  part  of  the 
way  towards  New  York.  Being  formed  in  the  usual  manner,  in 
two  ranks,  with  the  officers  on  the  right,,  in  order  to  be  foremost 
when  faced  for  the  march,  our  commander  took  his  station  in  front, 
and  gaily  flourishing  a  switch  which  he  held  in  his  hand,  with  a 
kind  of  apologetic  smile  for  the  liberty  he  was  taking  with  us, 
"  Come,  gentlemen,"  said  he,  "we  are  all  soldiers,"  (combining 
us  with  his  own  men,  enclosing  us  in  two  lines  ;  and  who,  at  the 
same  time  received  the  word  of  command,)  To  the  right  face ; 
then  giving  the  word  March,  he  good-humouredly  walked  along 
with  us,  without  losing  sight,  however,  of  the  decorum  which 
actual  duty  required.  When  we  had  proceeded  about  half  a  mile, 
wre  were  halted,  for  the  purpose,  as  I  afterwards  found,  of  relieving 
the  guard.  As  we  stood  here,  an  officer  wrapped  up  in  a  camblet 
cloak,  young  and  of  a  very  pleasing  address,  who  had  been  talking 
with  Becket,  came  up  to  me,  observing,  that  the  evening  was  very 
cool,  and  asked  if  such  weather  was  usual  with  us  at  this  season 
of  the  year.  I  told  him  it  was  not  unusual-  in  the  latter  part  of 
November.  After  an  observation  or  two  on  this  topic,  he  ex 
pressed  his  hope  that  I  had  been  well  treated.  As  well  as  possi 
ble,  I  replied,  by  some,  and  as  ill  by  others.  "  I  am  extremely 
sorry  for  it,"  said  he,  "  but  there  are  rascals  in  all  services." 
Soon  after,  Mr.  Becket*  informed  us,  that  he  was  about  to  leave 
us,  telling  me  that  he  would  make  it  a  point  to  obtain  information 
respecting  my  brother,  and  that  he  would  not  fail  to  acquaint  me 
with  the  result  in  New  York ;  then  bringing  up  Captain  Manuel, 

*  His  name  was,  probably,  Beckwith,  not  Becket.  In  a  list  of  the  British 
officers  there  is  a  Mr.  Onslovv  Beckwith,  a  second  lieutenant  in  the  23d  regiment 
on  the  24th  of  April,  17G2,  who  is  presumed  to  be  the  gentleman  here  alluded:  to? 
There  is  no  one  of  the  name  of  Becket  on  the  list. 


PRISONERS  MARCHED  TO  NEW  YORK.  221 

the  person  who  was  to  succeed  him,  he  introduced  me  to  him,  with 
a  particular  recommendation  of  me  to  his  care,  and  wished  us  a 
good  evening. 

Under  the  command  of  Captain  Manuel  we  continued  our 
march  until  within  six  or  seven  miles  of  New  York.     We  were 
here  quartered  very  comfortably  for  the  night,  in  the  back  part  of 
a  vacant  house,  of  which  Mr.  Manuel  took  to  himself  the  front. 
Although  he  had  not  the  amenity  and  ease  of  manners  so  eminently 
possessed  by  his  predecessor,  he  far  outwent  him  in  ceremonious 
civility ;  and  in  one  or  two  interviews  I  had  with  him,  he  almost 
overwhelmed  me  with  bows.     It  would  be  unjust,  however,  not 
to  say,  that  his  usage  of  us  was  unexceptionable,  though  we  were 
not  much  favoured  with  his  company.     Here,  for  the  first  time, 
we  drew  provisions  for  the  almost  famished  prisoners,  in  which 
number,  the  reader  knows,  I  have  no  right  to  include  myself,  and 
one  or  two  of  my  friends ;  and  it  was  politely  referred  to  me,  as 
the  eldest  officer  in  the  company,  to  put  my  name  to  the  provision 
return,  made  out  also  by  ourselves.  In  the  morning,  early,  the  rest  of 
the  prisoners  from  the  fort  and  Haerlem  village,  had  come  on ;  and 
being  all  assembled,  we  took  up  the  line  of  march,  preparatory  to 
our  untriumphal  entry  into  the  city  of  New  York.     From  the  cir 
cumstance  of  our  being  most  advanced,  we  had  the  honour  of 
forming  the  van  of  the  procession,  strung  out  to  a  great  length, 
between  a  line  of  British  infantry  on  either  side.     Captain  Manuel, 
from  an  effect  of  the  arrangements,  had  now  ceased  to  accompany 
us ;  instead  of  whom,  we,  in  front,  were  escorted  by  a  Captain 
Warren,  a  young  Irishman  of  the  Inniskillen  regiment.     He  was 
not  uncourteous  or  disobliging ;  and  was  extremely  prompt  in 
attending  to  the  want  of  drink,  which  sometimes  occurred  upon 
the  road,  on  these  occasions,  offering  the  contents  of  his  canteen 
to  mix  with  the  water  that  was  brought  us.     But  he  was  somewhat 
too  lavish  of  the  term  rebel,  extremely  offensive  to  my  ear,  I  must 
confess,  however  appropriate  it  might  be.     In  the  English  lan 
guage,  it  is  too  much  interwoven  with  the  idea  of  state  criminality, 
to  be  other  than  highly  opprobrious.     It  might  be  doubted,  never 
theless,  whether  in  the  mouth  of  Captain  W'arren,  it  had  its  full 
malignity ;  and  whether  its  adoption  was  not  less  owing  to  a  de 
sign  to  stigmatize,  than  to  the  insufficiency  of  his  vocabulary. 

19* 


222  OCCURRENCES  ON  THE  ROAD. 

He  was  fond  of  chatting,  and,  I  might  add,  of  boasting  of  the 
prowess  of  the  British  troops,  whom  he  took  occasion  to  compare 
with  ours.  I  told  him  that  I  had  often  seen  them  before,  and  ad 
mitted  that  they  were  well  dressed  and  well  armed,  to  which  cir 
cumstances,  might  perhaps  be  owing,  their  apparent  advantage 
over  ours.  He  took  what  I  said  in  good  part ;  and  what  is  a  proof, 
that  he  ought  to  be  excepted  from  the  real  scoundrels  in  the  British 
service,  is,  that  some  time  afterwards,  meeting  him  in  the  street  at 
New  York,  he  stopped  me,  and  behaved  with  an  entirely  correct 
civility. 

On  the  road,  as  we  approached  the  city,  we  were  beset  by  a 
parcel  of  soldier's  trulls  and  others,  who  came  out  to  meet  us. 
It  was  obvious,  that  in  the  calculation  of  this  assemblage  of  fe 
male  loyalty,  the  war  was  at  an  end;  and  that  the  whole  of  the 
rebel  army,  WASHINGTON  and  all,  were  safe  in  durance.  Which 
is  WASHINGTON  ?  Which  is  WASHINGTON?  proceeded  from  half  a 
dozen  mouths  at  once ;  and  the  guard  was  obliged  to  exert  itself 
to  keep  them  off.  Some  of  them  assailed  us  with  vollies  of  Bil 
lingsgate;  and  Colonel  Maxwell,  who  rode  along  side  of  us, 
and  whom  I  immediately  recognised  for  a  Captain  Maxwell,  who 
had  once  lodged  at  my  mother's,  had  enough  to  do  to  silence 
one  of  them,  calling  out  repeatedly:,  "Away  with  that  woman! 
Take  her  way!  Knock  her  down,  the  bitch!  Knock  her  down!" 

Previously  to  entering  the  city,  we  were  drawn  up  for  about 
an  hour,  on  the  high  ground  near  the  East  river.  Here,  the  of 
ficers  being  separated  from  the  men,  we  were  conducted  into  a 
church,  where,  if  I  mistake  not,  we  signed  a  parole.  While  in 
this  building,  which,  with  the  addition  of  those  spectators  who 
pressed  in  along  with  us,  was  pretty  much  crowded,  a  portly, 
well  looking,  middle-aged  non-commissioned  officer  of  the  forty- 
second  regiment,  approached  me,  observing  in  a  low  voice,  that 

he  was  sure  he  had  seen  me  before:  "Was  not  my  name ?"  I 

answered  in  the  affirmative.  "I  thought  so,"  said  he,  "I  have  often 
seen  you  at  your  mother's  in  Philadelphia  ;  and  though  you  were 
then  but  a  boy,  I  clearly  retrace  your  features.  As  you  are  pro 
bably  in  want  of  money,  may  I  beg  you  to  accept  of  this  ?"  slip 
ping  into  my  hand  a  dollar.  I  objected  to  taking  it,  as  I  might 
never  have  an  opportunity  of  repaying  him.  "No  matter  if 


GENEROSITY  OF  A  HIGHLANDER.  223 

you  have  not,"  said  he ;  "it  is  but  a  trifle,  but  such  as  it  is,  you 
cannot  oblige  me  more  than  by  accepting  it."  I  accordingly  put 
it  in  my  pocket,  the  confusion  and  bustle  of  the  scene  preventing 
my  taking  measures  for  ascertaining  the  means  of  seeing  him 
again;  and  having  never  afterwards  met  with  him,  I  am  still  in 
debted  to  this  amount,  together  with  the  gratitude  that  is  inse 
parable  from  it,  to  this  worthy,  generous  man,,  whose  memory,  it 
seems,  was  better  than  that  of  Colonel  Stirling,  Captain  Grant, 
and  many  others,  who  had  better  means  of  recollection,  than  this 
sergeant.  They  did  not  see  me,  it  is  true  ;  and  if  they  had, 
they  were  doubtless  too  much  in  the  Bute  system  of  politics,  to 
have  any  chanty  for  our  rebellion,  or  one  engaged  in  it.  But 
Mr.  Stirling,  when  a  Captain,  I  always  thought  a  haughty,  self- 
important  man,  too  intent  on  things  above  him  to  cast  a  glance 
at  those  beneath;  and,  whether  correct  or  not  in  this  opinion, 
having,  in  truth,  no  right  to  expect  any  thing  from  him  or  his 
clan,  I  wras  not  disappointed  ;  nor  should  I  have  thought  of  taking 
notice  of  them,  had  not  the  disloyal  officiousness  of  their  sergeant, 
somehow  prompted  my  pencil  to  give  them  a  nook  in  the  back 
ground. 

I  ought  before  to  have  mentioned  a  visit  from  a  Mr.  Johnson, 
of  Georgia,  who  had  been  my  fellow  pupil  at  Pike's  fencing 
school.  Whether  it  was  on  the  day,  or  the  day  after  we  were 
taken,  I  do  not  remember,  but  Johnson,  whose  politics  I  had  not 
before  known,  was,  I  found,  a  staunch  government  man,  and  in 
vested  with  a  commission  in  the  royal  army.  He  appeared  not 
displeased  at  seeing  me  well,  but  was  at  no  pains  to  conceal  his 
exultation  at  our  misfortune,  and  the  prospect  he  thence  derived, 
of  our  being  speedily  subdued.  Thus  called  upon,  I  bragged  a 
little  in  my  turn,  though  with  a  heart  much  less  assured  than  his. 

Our  men  were  confined  in  churches  and  sugar-houses,  and 
quarters  were  assigned  for  us  who  were  officers,  in  the  upper 
part  of  the  town,  in  what  was  called  the  holy  ground.  But,  be 
sides,  that  it  was  not  tout-a-fait  honnete  or  entirely  correct,  to  be 
come  a  charge  to  his  Britannic  Majesty,  after  having  presumed 
to  resist  his  royal  authority,  J  was  somewhat  apprehensive  that 
his  fare  might  not  be  the  most  sumptuous;  and  therefore,  though 
but  with  the  single  dollar  in  my  pocket,  which  I  owed  to  the 


224  DISPOSAL  OF  THE  PRISONERS. 

bounty  of  the  benevolent  Highlander,  I  yet  ventured  to  take 
boarding  at  four  dollars  per  week.  I  knew  that  I  had  an  excel 
lent  banker  in  Philadelphia,  and  that  if  specie  was  to  be  pro 
cured,  my  good  mother  would  take  care  to  get  it,  and  send  it  to 
me.  The  person  with  whom  I  boarded  was  a  Mrs.  Carroll,  who, 
under  the  protection  of  General  Robertson,  commandant  of  the 
town,  was  hardy  enough  to  entertain  rebels.  She  passed  for  the 
particular  favourite  of  this  gentleman;  and  was  sufficiently  young 
and  buxom,  to  give  probability  to  the  imputation.  She  played 
her  cards  with  much  address,  and  bent  her  politics,  if  she  had 
any,  to  her  interest.  She  was,  no  doubt,  tory  or  whig,  as  best 
suited  the  company  she  happened  to  be  in;  and,  of  course,  with 
us,  was  always  the  latter — shaping  accordingly  her  news  and  her 
anecdotes,  of  which  she  picked  up  abundance  when  she  went 
abroad,  and  detailed  to  us  on  the  opening  of  the  budget  on  her 
return.  With  due  allowance  for  her  influences  and  motives,  we 
were  flattered,  and  sometimes  instructed  by  her  communications. 
What  led  me  to  these  quarters,  was  the  circumstance,  of  some  of 
the  Pennsylvania  officers  taken  on  Long  Island,  being  already  in 
them,  viz.  Colonels  Atlee  and  Miles;  Major  Burd,  Captain  Her- 
bet,  &c.  There  was  also  there  a  Mr.  Coursey  or  De  Courcey, 
of  Smallwood's  regiment;  and  they  now,  besides  myself,  re 
ceived  the  addition  of  Colonel  Magaw,  Major  West,  Captains 
Lenox  and  Edwards,  and  Doctor  McHenry,  who  afterwards  be 
came  a  member  of  General  WASHINGTON'S  family  and  Secretary 
of  War.  Colonel  Cadwalader,  (through  the  interest  of  General 
Prescott,  who,  when  a  prisoner  with  us,  had  been  liberally  treated 
by  Doctor  Cadwalader,  the  father  of  the  Colonel,)  was  imme 
diately  released,  and  went  home  on  parole. 

From  the  number  of  her  boarders,  Mrs  Carroll  might  be  sup 
posed  to  have  a  very  large  house,  but  this  was  not  the  fact.  It  was 
but  an  humble  tenement  in  Queen's  street,  of  two  stories,  writh 
two  or  three  chambers:  but  adjoining  it,  was  a  building,  which, 
having  been  abandoned,  we,  at  her  instance,  under  the  auspices 
of  General  Robertson,  took  possession  of,  and  furnished  with  our 
own  mattresses  and  blankets.  Nothing  was  scarcer  in  New 
York,  this  winter,  than  fuel ;  but,  clubbing  our  weekly  allowance 


BAGGAGE  RESTORED.  225 

of  coal,  we  were  enabled  to  supply  for  our  hostess,  the  parlor  and 
kitchen  fire. 

The  next  object  of  our  cares,  was  our  baggage  at  Fort  Wash 
ington.  The  security  of  that,  belonging  to  those  taken  in  the 
fort,  was  stipulated  for  on  its  surrender ;  and  although  I  could 
not  claim  the  benefit  of  the  capitulation,  I  did  not  doubt,  that 
mine,  as  a  part  of  the  mass,  would  fare  as  well  as  the  rest.  It 
chiefly  consisted  of  a  mattress  and  trunk,  in  which,  was  a  bundle 
of  letters,  the  fruits  of  an  interesting  correspondence,  which  had 
never  been  intermitted,  from  the  time  of  my  leaving  Philadel 
phia,  to  that  of  my  captivity;  and  which,  I  valued  far  beyond 
all  my  other  possessions.  They  were  now  more  precious  than 
ever  ;  since  all  letters,  to  or  from  us,  being  subjected  to  inspec 
tion,  the  intercourse  must  cease  ;  and  the  reperusal  of  these  must 
console  me  for  the  privation  of  recent  communications.  My 
anxiety,  however,  was  soon  removed,  by  the  safe  arrival  by 
water,  two  or  three  days  after  our  reaching  New  York,  of  my 
trunk  and  mattress.  I  lost,  indeed,  a  fowling-piece,  small 
sword  and  some  other  articles  :  but  these  were  of  little  conse 
quence;  and  I  thought  myself  supremely  fortunate  in  losing  no 
more.  The  advantage  of  a  change  of  clothes,  being  by  this  time 
very  desirable,  I  gladly  availed  myself  of  the  contents  of  my 
trunk,  which,  besides  linen,  stockings,  &c.,  afforded  me  a  better 
suit  of  regimentals,  and  a  newer  hat  than  those  I  had  on.  As 
I  saw  no  reason  why  I  should  not  wear  them,  I  put  them  on  for 
'the  purpose  of  taking  a  walk  through  the  city.  My  fellow-lodgers, 
who  had  been  taken  on  Long  Island,  being  older  and  more  pru 
dent  than  myself,  evinced  some  surprise  at  my  temerity.  To 
them  I  appeared  much  better  dressed  than  rebel  beseemed;  and 
they  predicted  the  probability  of  insult  and  abuse,  should  I  ex 
hibit  myself  in  a  trim  so  remote  from  the  garb  of  humility  ;  for 
as  to  themselves,  they  had,  with  the  exception  of  Colonel  Atlee, 
and  one  or  two  more,  exchanged  their  martial  habiliments  for 
plain  clothes ;  and  even  in  these,  they  rarely  went  out.  With 
out  regarding  their  suggestions,  however,  I  sallied  forth  alone, 
and  walked  past  the  coffee-house,  down  to  the  battery.  Finding 
the  gate-way  open,  I  entered  it,  and  after  traversing  it  to  its  ex 
tremity,  I  strolled  back  again ;  almost  every  sentinel,  to  my  great 


226  AUTHOR  IN    REGIMENTALS. 

surprise,  I  must  confess,  handling  his  arms  to  me  as  I  passed. 
Leaving  the  battery,  I  took  a  turn  into  another  part  of  the  town, 
and  after  a  considerable  round,  regained  my  lodgings,  without 
having  met  with  the  smallest  molestation.  But  I  afterwards 
learned  from  Mr.  Theophilact  Bache,  (of  whom  I  shall  have  oc 
casion  to  speak  in  the  sequel)  that  he  well  recollected,  once  see 
ing  me  pass  the  coffee-house,  probably  at  this  very  time;  and 
that  he  and  some  other  gentlemen,  had  been  obliged  to  exert 
themselves  to  prevent  some  blackguards  insulting  me.  This 
conduct  of  mine  would  seem  to  indicate  an  arrogance,  or  an 
apathy,  that  I  can  aver  was  not  in  my  character.  It  was  not  a 
want  of  feeling,  but  an  excess  of  it,  which  prompted  me  to  the 
proceeding.  Revolting  against  the  design  to  treat  us  as  state 
criminals,  and  to  overwhelm  us  with  the  odium  attached  to  that 
condition  ;  smarting,  too,  from  the  personal  insults  I  had  received, 
and  in  a  state  of  cruel  suspense  respecting  my  brother,  the  pre 
vailing  colour  of  which  was,  that  he  had  been  killed,  my  mind 
was  slightly  tinctured  with  that  sombre  enthusiasm,  which  exults 
in  the  opportunity  of  setting  persecution  at  defiance  ;  and  which 
in  its  excess,  can  subdue  the  strongest  instincts  of  nature,  as  was 
evinced  in  the  ferocious  heroism  of  Charlotte  Corday. 


227 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Pardon  offered  by  Howe  to  the  Americans,  upon  return  to  their  allegiance. — 
Letter  of  General  Washington. — An  Officer's  dinner  party. — A  singular  Cha 
racter. — Treatment  of  Prisoners. — Reflections  on  the  American  policy. — 
Memorial  presented  to  General  Howe. — Situation  of  Affairs. — American 
Officers. — Deserters  from  the  cause  of  Independence. — Prospects. — Coffee 
house  Incident. — British  Provost  Marshal. — Colonel  Allen. — Result  of  appli 
cation  to  General  Howe. — Exchange  of  Prisoners. — Removal  of  Officers  to 
Long  Island. 

ONE  of  the  first  measures  of  the  Howes,  in  consequence  of 
their  late  success,  was  to  issue  a  proclamation,  tendering  pardon 
to  such  as  should  renounce  the  cause  of  rebellion.  I  only  re 
collect  its  general  tenor,  and  that  the  proffered  grace  might  have 
been  spared.  Not  more  than  one  or  two,  and  indeed  not  one 
to  my  certain  knowledge,  embraced  the  invitation,  although 
•warmly  recommended  to  us  by  Mr.  Commissary  Loring.  This 
•was,  no  doubt,  a  matter  both  of  surprise  and  mortification;  and 
one,  which  in  no  degree  tended  to  mitigate  the  contemptuous 
rigour  of  our  treatment. 

Mr.  Beckwith,  it  may  be  recollected,  had  promised  to  call 
upon  me.  He  kept  his  word,  and  sought  me  at  our  allotted 
quarters  on  the  holy  ground.  Not  rinding  me  there,  or  meeting 
with  any  one  who  could  tell  him  where  I  lodged,  he  left  a  mes 
sage  for  me,  importing  that  after  the  most  diligent  inquiry,  he 
had  not  been  able  to  learn  any  thing  respecting  my  brother. 
Some  time  after,  meeting  in  the  street,  a  sergeant  who  had  be 
longed  to  his  guard,  I  inquired  for  him,  and  was  informed,  that, 
very  shortly  after  I  had  seen  him,  he  had  embarked  for  Rhode 
Island. 

Among  the  rare  exceptions  to  the  haughty  demeanour  of  our 
lordly  masters,  might  be  mentioned,  the  occasional  civility  of 


228  AUTHOR  HEARS  FROM  HIS  MOTHER. 

Major  Skene,  who  seemed,  for  himself,  to  have  adopted  the 
conciliatory  mode  of  conduct,  and  sometimes  called  to  see  us. 
Besides  a  slight  acquaintance  he  had  made  with  Colonels  Atlee 
and  Miles,  he  had,  while  in  durance  among  us,  contracted  a  sort 
of  general  acquaintance  with  the  rebel  character  of  America ;  and 
he  appeared  not  to  think  very  ill  of  it,  notwithstanding  its  colli 
sion  with  the  high  pretensions  of  British  supremacy,  of  which, 
he  was  an  unqualified  votary.  He  was  a  portly  man,  about 
forty,  or  forty-five,  apparently  frank  and  good-humoured  ;  and 
so  far  was  he  from  resenting  the  usage  he  had  received  from  us, 
that  he  acknowledged  he  had  been  treated  full  as  well  as  he  had 
a  right  to  expect,  since  he  had  made  it  a  point  to  be  as  trouble 
some  and  vexatious  as  possible. 

Between  two  and  three  weeks  had  elapsed,  when  I  received 
a  letter  from  my  mother.  It  was  brought  by  a  Captain  Hesketh, 
of  the  British  army,  who  had  been  a  prisoner  with  us.  It  ac 
quainted  me  he  had  money  for  me;  but  a  piece  of  intelligence 
of  still  greater  consequence,  was,  that  my  brother  was  safe  and 
at  home.  A  boat  had  got  over  the  Hudson,  as  I  had  heard,  and 
to  avoid  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  by  whom  he  had 
been  closely  pressed,  he  had  put  himself  on  board.  Nothing 
now  was  wanting  to  make  me  as  happy  as  my  situation  would 
admit.  I  waited  upon  Captain  Hesketh,  found  him  at  home, 
and  was  very  politely  treated  both  by  him  and  his  lady,  to  whose 
notice  I  had  been  particularly  recommended  by  Miss  Amiel,'of 
Philadelphia,  a  mutual  acquaintance.  Among  other  things,  Mrs. 
Hesketh,  who  was  the  most  communicative,  informed  me,  that 
they  had  met  General  WASHINGTON  on  their  road,  at  the  head  of 
his  army,  which  must  indeed  have  been  a  small  one;  though 
this  unwelcome  truth  being  spared,  I  had  not  the  courage  to 
elict  it  by  any  questions.  And  this  account  agrees  with  a  letter 
of  the  General,  to  the  Board  of  War,  dated  Brunswick,  the  30th 
of  November,  wherein  he  speaks  of  having  met  with  Captain 
Hesketh  and  his  family.  Of  the  same  date,  from  the  same  per 
son,  and  in  his  own  hand,  I  shall  now  present  the  reader  with  a 
letter,  which,  considering  the  pressing  situation  of  affairs,  dis 
plays  a  mind  at  once  superior  to  adversity,  and  alive  to  the  im 
pressions  of  humanity,  and  the  feelings  of  private  distress.  It 


LETTER  FROM  GENERAL  WASHINGTON.  229 

appears  to  be  in  answer  to  a  letter  from  my  mother,  on  hearing 
of  my  captivity. 

"Brunswick,  30th  Nov.  1776. 
"MADAM, 

"  Your  letter  to  your  son  (enclosed  to  me)  went  in  the  day 
after  it  came  to  my  hands,  by  a  flag  which  happened  to  be  going 
to  New  York. 

"I  am  very  sorry  for  the  misfortune  of  your  son's  captivity, 
but  these  are  accidents  which  must  be  experienced  and  felt  in 
war.  Colonel  Cadwalader,  who  has  been  suffered  to  return  to 
Philadelphia,  would  be  able  to  inform  you  of  your  son's  health. 
Any  hard  money,  which  you  may  be  able  to  forward  to  me,  or 
Mr.  Tilghman,  (who  is  of  my  family)  shall  be  contrived  to  him 
by  some  means  or  other. 
"I  am,  Madam, 

"  Your  very  humble  servant, 

"Go:  WASHINGTON." 

This  letter  is  given  verbatim  as  it  is  written,  without  pre 
suming  to  supply  what  may  be  supposed  an  omission  in  the  last 
line.  The  words  to  be  sent,  after  the  word  contrived,  appear  to 
be  wanting.  Whether  they  were  left  out  through  inadvertence, 
or  in  compliance  with  an  American  mode  of  speaking,  taken 
notice  of  by  Doctor  Witherspoon,  in  an  essay  under  the  signature 
of  "  A  Druid,"  I  shall  not  undertake  to  decide.  I  can  only  say, 
that  if  it  is  an  Americanism,  I  never  heard  it  before,*  and  that 
it  is  not  common  in  Pennsylvania.  It  is,  however,  perfectly  in 
telligible,  and  analogous  to  other  contractions  in  the  language  of 
business. 

The  letter  spoken  of  by  the  General,  as  having  been  enclosed 
to  him,  and  sent  in  by  a  flag,  I  did  not  receive  until  some  time 
after  that  by  Captain  Hesketh.  It  had,  probably,  wandered  out 
of  its  road,  into  the  hands  of  a  British  officer  of  the  same  Chris 
tian  and  surname,  as  well  as  rank,  as  this  gentleman  told  a  lady 
of  my  acquaintance  in  Philadelphia,  when  General  Howe  after- 

*  An  Americanism,  certainly,  but  it  was  seldom,  indeed,  that  General  WASH- 
INGTON  thus  transgressed.  The  expression  is  common  among  a  portion  of  our 
Western  countrymen— and  is  not  unusual,  it  is  believed,  in  New-England. — ED. 

20 


230  DINNER  PARTY. 

wards  got  possession  of  it,  that  he  had  been  fortunate  enough  to 
find  a  mother  in  this  country,  from  whom  he  had  received  some 
very  affectionate  letters. 

It  was  about  this  time,  that  I  received  a  billet  from  Captain 
Wilson  already  mentioned.  It  was  equally  addressed  to  Major 
West,  Captain  Tudor  and  myself;  and  stated  that  a  tour  of  duty 
into  Jersey,  had  been  the  cause  of  his  not  attending  to  us  before ; 
and  after  apologizing  for  not  waiting  on  us,  for  some  cause  or 
other,  it  requested  our  company  to  dine  with  him  on  the  day  but 
one  after  its  date,  in  which  case,  he  would  send  his  servant  to 
show  us  the  way  to  his  quarters.  We  understood  from  his  note, 
that  he  was  fearful  of  paying  his  respects  personally,  in  the  usual 
manner.  It  was  obviously  the  system  of  the  British  army  to 
treat  us  as  persons,  with  whom  to  maintain  an  intercourse, 
would,  on  their  part,  be  both  criminal  and  degrading;  and  Wil 
son,  from  whatever  cause,  appeared  more  than  ordinarily  solici 
tous  to  avoid  any  ground  for  suspicion  of  too  much  attention  to 
us.  West  was  indisposed,  but  Tudor  and  myself,  for  the  sake 
of  a  little  variety,  waiving  etiquette  agreed  to  dine  with  him  ;  and 
when  the  day  came,  were  conducted  to  his  house,  or  rather  to 
his  chamber,  by  a  soldier.  The  dinner  party  was  small,  con 
sisting,  besides  ourselves,  only  of  our  entertainer  and  a  Lieute 
nant,  whose  name  I  have  forgotten.  He  was  a  tall,  and  stout 
young  Irishman,  who,  by  way  of  high  recommendation,  Wilson 
took  an  opportunity  to  inform  me,  was  very  brave;  and  had 
killed  with  his  own  hand,  a  Captain  of  ours  at  White  Plains. 
This,  I  was,  no  doubt,  to  take  as  a  compliment  to  myself,  being 
as  much  as  to  say,  I  consider  you  as  a  brave  man  too,  sir,  by  sup 
posing  you  capable  of  appreciating  the  quality  in  another,  though 
even  at  the  expense  of  your  own  side.  This  young  Ajax,  how 
ever,  was  modest  and  unassuming ;  and  both  he  and  the  Cap 
tain,  acted  in  exact  conformity  to  that  creed  of  a  professional  sol 
dier,  which,  according  to  Lucan,  is  as  old  as  the  civil  war  of  the 
first  triumvirate,  and  contained  in  the  declaration  of  Pompey's 
Generals  Afranius  and  Petreius  to  Caesar,  that 

"  War  with  its  own  occasions  came  unsought, 
And  found  them  on  the  side  for  which  they  fought.'* 


A  SINGULAR  CHARACTER.  231 

The  bottle  was  briskly  circulated,  and  in  the  course  of  the  after 
noon,  there  were  several  droppers  in  ;  among  others,  a  curious 
little  creature,  who  bore  the  commission  of  either  a  Captain  or  a 
Lieutenant.  He  had  the  appearance  of  a  youth  not  exceeding 
twenty,  and  was  one  of  the  smallest  and  lightest  men  I  ever  be 
held;  a  genuine  master  Slender,  that  might  have  been  "made 
out  of  a  cheese-paring  after  supper:"  If  he  weighed  a  hun 
dred,  it  was  much.  From  the  conversation,  in  which  he  took 
his  full  proportion,  it  appeared  that  he  had  either  a  wife  or  a 
mistress  ;  for  he  complained  that  his  lady,  whom  he  called  Bet 
sey  or  Kitty,  had  grown  vastly  too  fond  of  the  pleasures  of  the 
towrn,  and  by  inference,  somewhat  too  indifferent  to  himself. 
The  circumstance,  however,  did  not  seem  likely  to  break  his 
heart  ;  and  the  less  so,  from  not  being  thought  necessary  to  be 
locked  up  in  that  repository.  He  evinced,  in  another  instance, 
not  necessary  to  detail,  that  he  was  an  utter  stranger  to  the  nicer 
feelings  ;  and  from  such  a  graceless  compend  of  premature  de 
bauchery  being  treated  with  some  attention,  I  was  induced  to 
consider  him  as  the  degenerate  offspring  of  some  great  sire. 
Another  person,  who  joined  us  in  the  evening,  appeared  to  be 
long  to  the  navy.  He  was  probably  a  surgeon,  Captain  of  a 
transport,  or  something  in  that  way,  as,  though  he  wore  a  cock- 
arde,  he  had  no  uniform.  He  was  called  upon  for  his  toast. 
"What  have  you  been  drinking  ?"  said  he  :  "  Peace,  reconciliation, 
and  so  forth,"  replied  Wilson.  But  the  fellow,  either  stupid  or 
perversely  malignant,  gave,  Confusion  to  the  rebels.  This  pro 
duced  at  least  confusion  in  the  company,  which  was  extremely 
disconcerted  and  hurt,  our  host  in  particular.  Perceiving  this 
I  determined  to  give  the  circumstance  the  go  by  with  the  best 
possible  grace  ;  and  therefore,  with  a  silent  contempt  for  the 
toast,  I  drank  to  Captain  Wilson.  He  returned  the  compliment, 
and  the  other  gentlemen  bowing  around  the  table  without  re 
peating  the  sentiment,  it  was  only  swallowed  by  the  giver,  who 
not  long  after,  took  his  leave.  The  general  hilarity  was  soon  re 
stored  in  the  true  national  style,  which,  without  the  "  feast  of 
reason,"  has  certainly  much  of  the  "flow  of  soul;"  and  what^ 
ever  a  rigid  policy  might  dictate  elsewhere,  it  was  wholly  laid 
aside  at  this  table.  Tory  or  whig,  loyal  or  disloyal,  was  out  of 


232 


DINNER  PARTY. 


the  question  ;  and  about  eight  or  nine  o'clock,  Captain  Wilson, 
putting  us  under  the  care  of  a  soldier  with  a  lantern  in  his  hand' 
permitted  us  to  depart,  with  full  as  much  wine  on  board,  as  in 
conscience  was  due  to  our  slight  acquaintance  with  his  brothers 
in  Philadelphia :  and  thus  by  a  single  act  of  Irish  hospitality,  he 
cancelled  the  obligation  he  had  voluntarily  imposed  upon  himself, 
of  rendering  us  every  service  in  his  power.  Something,  how 
ever,  was  due  to  this  gentleman  for  a  treatment  of  us,  altogether 
liberal  and  obliging. 

O        O- 

But,  while  from  the  advantage  of  bearing  commissions,  we  had 
the  benefit  of  free  air  and  the  use  of  our  limbs,  our  poor  devoted 
soldiers  were  enclosed  within  walls,  scantily  supplied  with  pro 
visions  of  bad  quality,  wretchedly  clothed,  and  destitute  of  suffi 
cient  fuel,  if  indeed  they  had  any.  Disease  was  the  inevitable 
consequence  of  such  a  situation;  and  their  prisons  of  course,  soon 
became  hospitals.  A  fatal  malady  was  generated ;  and  the  mor 
tality,  to  every  heart  not  steeled  by  the  spirit  of  party,  was  truly 
deplorable.  I  once,  and  once  only,  ventured  to  penetrate  into 
these  abodes  of  human  misery  and  despair.  But,  to  what  pur 
pose  repeat  my  visit,  when  I  had  neither  relief  to  administer,  nor 
comfort  to  bestow !  What  could  I  say  to  the  unhappy  victims 
who  appealed  to  me  for  assistance,  or  sought  my  advice  as  to  the 
alternative  of  death  or  apostacy?  For  until  rendered  worthless 
and  unfit  for  military  duty  by  disease,  they  might  enlist,  and  thus 
rescue  themselves  from  the  sufferings  that  awaited  them.  I  en 
deavoured  to  encourage  them  with  the  hope  of  an  exchange,  but 
humanity  forbade  my  counselling  them  to  rush  on  sure  destruc 
tion:  I  rather  chose  to  turn  my  eye  from  a  scene  I  could  not  me 
liorate  ;  to  put  from  me  a  calamity  which  mocked  my  power  of 
alleviation. 

Our  own  condition,  too,  though  a  paradise  to  theirs,  was  be 
coming  hopeless.  To  say  nothing  of  the  danger  of  legal  punish 
ment,  it  indicated  a  captivity  without  end,  or  at  least  commen 
surate  with  the  war.  To  other  existing  obstacles,  a  new  one 
was  added  by  the  capture  of  General  Lee,*  considered  by  Gene 
ral  Howe  as  a  deserter  from  the  British  army,  and  therefore,  not 

*  For  an  account  of  this  capture,  see  Appendix  I. — ED. 


TREATMENT  OF  PRISONERS.  233 

entitled  to  exchange.  Meanwhile  the  sternness  of  power  was 
displayed  with  unabating  rigour  and  systematic  perseverance. 
In  this  scene  of  military  despotism,  I  sometimes  indulged  my 
melancholy  in  an  evening  walk,  when,  imagination  taking  its 
flight  to  the  shores  of  the  Delaware,  insensibly  led  my  steps  to 
the  western  part  of  the  city.  Having  been  the  theatre  of  the  late 
fire,  it  was  marked  by  devastation  ;  and  as  nothing  is  more  con 
genial  to  the  soul  in  gloom,  than  to  wander  among  ruins, 

"What  time  the  moon,  in  solemn  splendour  pours 
Long  threads  of  silver  through  the  gaping  towers," 

it  was  the  time  I  chose,  to  take  my  solitary  ramble  through  the 
deserted  and  dilapidated  edifices  of  Broadway.  Here,  amid 
the  irregularly  indented  battlements  which  frowned  in  desola 
tion,  I  meditated  on  the  horrors  of  this  guilty  city,  where"  poor 
misfortune  felt  the  lash  of  vice,"  and  thousands  of  my  unhappy 
countrymen  were  perishing  under  the  hand  of  proud,  unfeeling 
authority :  Not  poniarded,  it  is  true,  before  the  faces  of  their  op 
pressors,  nor  murdered  by  the  impious  mockery  of  judicial  in 
vestigation,  but  remorselessly  consigned  to  slow  consuming 
tortures,  equally  fatal  and  potent  to  destruction.  In  this,  I  ad 
mit,  I  speak  the  language  of  indignant  feeling;  but  unless  the 
suffering  of  the  American  prisoners  was  the  effect  of  dire  ne 
cessity,  the  British  nation  should  be  less  clamourous  about  the 
massacre  of  Jaffa,  since  the  quality  of  her  humanity,  when  com 
pared  with  that  of  France,  would  be  precisely  that  of  Nero,  when 
contrasted  with  Domitian's  ;  and  hence,  the  whitest,  it  must  be 
granted,  by  a  very  few  gradations.  The  former,  as  we  are 
told  by  Tacitus,  had  the  grace  to  avert  his  eyes  from  the  enor 
mities  he  ordained ;  while  those  of  the  latter,  feasted  on  human 
agony,  and  noted  down  the  sighs  of  those  who  dared  to  sympa 
thize  with  the  victims.  JVero  tamen  subtraxit  oculos ;  jussitque 
scelera,  non  spectavit :  pr&cipua  sub  Domitiano  miseriarum  pars 
eratj  videre  et  aspici ;  cum  suspiria  nostra  subscriberentur. 

It  is  no  grateful  office  to  apologize  for  obduracy;  nor  is  it  for 
the  sufferers  to  seek  excuses  for  the  conduct  of  their  oppressors. 
Justice,  nevertheless  demands,  that  due  consideration  should 
be  had  for  the  situation  of  the  invading  army ;  the  scantiness  of 

20* 


234  REFLECTIONS  ON  THE  AMERICAN  POLICY. 

its  limits ;  its  ability  to  guard  its  prisoners,  and  means  of  subsist 
ing  them;  nor  would  the  bandaged  Deity,  on  a  scrutiny,  I  fear, 
entirely  hold  guiltless  the  assertors  of  liberty  and  declared  pro 
tectors  of  the  rights  of  man.  By  her  own  pitiable  policy,  the 
balance  in  an  exchange  of  prisoners,  was  miserably  against  Con 
gress;  and  her  annual  enlistments  opposed  a  formidable  bar  to  the 
most  sacred  duties  both  of  honour  and  humanity.  But  the  heroic 
epoch  of  seventy-six,  had  its  full  leaven  of  selfishness ;  and  whe 
ther  we  appealed  to  our  own  or  the  French  revolution,  no  two 
things  will  be  found  less  alike  than  patriotism  and  philanthrophy, 
however  it  may  be  the  fashion  to  speak  of  them  as  the  same. 
When  the  great  business  is  to  raise  an  empire  or  to  save  one, 
what  care  we  for  the  welfare  of  a  minute  inconsiderable  part; 
and  a  part  too,  not  having  the  slightest  relation  to  ourselves?  In 
the  scale  of  public  utility,  what  comparison  can  there  be  between 
an  ignorant,  mercenary  soldier,  and  an  enlightened  member  of 
the  grand  National  Council,  whose  precious  neck  might,  perad- 
venture,  be  u  destined  to  the  cord,"*  in  case  of  an  unprosperous 
issue  to  the  contest!  It  is  for  your  Howards  to  "  plunge  into 
the  infection  of  hospitals,  to  take  guage  and  dimensions  of  misery, 
depression  and  contempt;"  it  is  for  them,  "  to  survey  the  man 
sions  of  sorrow  and  pain,  to  remember  the  forgotten,  to  attend  to 
the  neglected;1''  Congress  had  far  higher  concerns.  Possibly,  I 
go  too  far ;  yet  there  were  certainly  prisoners  in  our  hands,  who, 
if  not  equal  in  amount  to  those  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  would 
at  least  have  obtained  a  partial  exchange;  perhaps,  with  proper 
management,  the  release  of  the  whole  of  the  men;  and  the  ob 
stacle  arising  from  the  situation  of  Lee,  might  have  been  re 
stricted  to  the  officers.  But  this  would  not  have  done;  there 
was  an  ugly  rub  in  the  affair:  the  time  of  enlistment  having 
expired,  our  men  were  no  longer  soldiers,  while  those  of  the 
enemy  were  still  subject  to  command,  and  in  a  condition,  imme 
diately  to  take  the  field.  Is  it  not  probable,  therefore,  that  we 
ourselves  may  owe  a  little  to  the  manes  of  our  devoted  country 
men  ?  But  should  I  still  be  deemed  censurable  for  the  freedom 
of  my  observations,  perhaps  some  of  the  letters  of  General  WASH- 

*  An  expression  of  General  GAGE'S  in  some  of  his  publications. 


MEMORIAL  PRESENTED  TO  GENERAL  HOWE.  235 

INGTON,  whose  discretion  will  not  be  questioned,  might  be  brought 
to  my  aid :  from  these  it  might  appear,  that  the  army  was  not 
always  cherished  with  the  most  paternal  care.  Revolutions, 
however,  are  not  the  soil  for  any  but  the  stoical  virtues;  and, 
counting  every  life  that  was  lost,  all  the  vile  plebeian  carcasses 
which  have  served  to  dress  the  hot  bed,  so  rankly  teeming  with 
political  yw??gi,  is  there  a  statesman  of  nerve,  a  hopeful  pupil  of 
the  Monticello  school,  who  would  not  say,  that,  upon  every 
principle  of  political  economy,  our  independence  was  cheaply 
purchased  ?* 

But  the  situation  of  the  suffering  soldiery,  was  not  unattended 
to  by  their  more  fortunate  officers ;  and  the  means  of  relieving 
them  were  the  subject  of  our  daily  consideration.  The  most  ob 
vious,  was,  to  present  an  address  to  Sir  William  Howe  ;  but  it 
was  suggested,  that,  as  the  condition  of  the  men  could  not  but 
be  known  to  him,  it  was  to  be  considered  as  designed;  and  that, 
therefore,  to  state  it,  might  be  deemed  impertinent,  and  be,  in 
effect,  injurious  rather  than  beneficial  to  the  end  in  view.  This 
consideration,  for  awhile,  restrained  any  interference  in  their 
behalf;  but  at  length,  it  was  resolved  that  a  representation  should 
be  made.  A  memorial  was  prepared  and  signed  by  Colonels 
Magaw,  Miles  and  Atlee,  and  they  appointed  me  to  deliver  it. 
I  accordingly  repaired  to  head  quarters ;  and  meeting  with  some 
gentlemen  of  the  family  at  the  door,  I  presented  it  to  them,  with 
a  request  that  it  might  be  submitted  as  soon  as  convenient,  to 
the  Commander-in-chief.  They  promised  it  should  be  laid  be 
fore  him  without  delay,  and  inquired  my  name  and  rank,  as  the 
contents  of  the  paper,  not  being  known,  it  might  be  supposed  to 
relate  to  myself,  and  at  any  rate,  as  on  the  deliverer  of  a  paper, 
there  rests  a  certain  degree  of  responsibility  for  its  contents. 

As  soon  as  we  had  obtained  a  supply  of  cash,  \ve  equipped 
ourselves  generally  in  plain  clothes,  in  which  we  were  less  con 
spicuous,  and  consequently,  more  at  ease.  There  was  a  very 

*  A  revolution  in  the  aggregate,  is  a  no  less  glorious  thing  than  a  battle,  but 
they  both  lose  many  of  their  charms  on  an  analysis  ;  and  this  must  account  for 
the  puny  features  of  my  narrative,  when  compared  with  the  noble  countenance 
of  general  history.  It  ought  also  to  plead  for  me,  with  those,  who  may  charge 
me  with,  Etalant  au  public  noire  misanthropic. 


236  SITUATION  OF  AFFAIRS. 

large  store  kept  by  one  Coffin,  in  which,  it  was  confidently  said, 
Sir  William  Howe  had  a  concern.  From  its  containing  the  best 
assortment  of  goods,  we  gave  it  our  custom ;  and  I  accordingly 
called  there  one  day,  to  buy  some  cloth  and  other  articles,  but 
as  my  gold  had  been  clipped,  it  could  not  be  taken,  and  I  left 
the  store  with  an  apprehension  that  my  coin  would  be  useless  to 
me.  Very  soon  after,  however,  Mr.  Coffin  contrived  to  let  me 
know,  that  he  had  waived  his  objection,  and  that  my  money 
would  be  received ;  and  after  this,  I  found  myself  a  welcome 
customer  for  all  of  it  I  could  spare. 

Although  there  must  have  been  in  New  York  a  number  of  re 
fugees  from  Philadelphia,  I  presume  they  did  not  go  much  abroad, 
as  I  do  not  remember  ever  meeting  one  of  them  in  the  street ; 
and  the  only  one  who  ventured  to  call  upon  us,  was  Colonel 
William  Allen,  already  mentioned.  He  came  to  our  lodging 
once  or  twice,  in  the  evening.  His  situation  was  an  extremely 
awkward  one.  In  civil  contests,  there  seems  no  medium ;  and 
neither  side  will  tolerate  neutrals.  Having  borne  arms  with  us, 
he  had  not  the  merit  of  an  orthodox  tory  with  the  British  ;  neither 
had  he  any  claim  to  the  whiggism  of  the  day,  having  renounced 
the  cause  of  independence,  and  associated  his  fortunes  with  those 
of  the  enemy.  In  this  predicament,  however  exempt  from  per 
sonal  animosity  we  might  be,  there  could  be  nothing  cordial  or 
free  in  our  intercourse :  it  admitted  only  of  a  constrained  and 
formal  civility.  I  have  little  doubt,  however,  that  Mr.  Allen's 
personal  feelings  were,  at  this  time,  more  with  us  than  his  new 
friends.  As  I  have  infinitely  more  satisfaction  in  recollecting  and 
recording  acts  of  generosity  than  of  intolerance,  I  cannot  omit  to 
note  the  attention  I  received  from  Mr.  Heathcote  Johnson,  of 
Amboy.  This  gentleman  used  to  spend  a  good  deal  of  his  time 
in  Philadelphia,  had  lodged  at  my  mother's,  and  consequently, 
remembered  me,  though  much  younger  than  himself.  Meeting 
him  one  day  in  the  street,  he  stopped  me,  and  in  a  very  friendly 
manner  invited  me  to  spend  a  few  weeks  with  him  at  Amboy. 
This,  I  could  on  no  account  have  consented  to,  had  I  been  at 
liberty  to  leave  New  York ;  but  that  not  being  the  case,  I  availed 
myself  of  this  restriction  in  declining  his  invitation.  He  replied 
that  it  might  be  got  over ;  and  that  if  I  would  favour  him  with  my 


SITUATION  OF  AMERICAN  OFFICERS.  237 

company,  he  had  no  doubt,  but  that  he  had  sufficient  influence 
to  obtain  an  extension  of  my  limits.  I  was  now  obliged  to  de 
cline  his  civility  in  m.ore  positive  terms,  though  with  a  due  im 
pression  of  the  liberality  and  kindness  which  had  prompted  it. 

Other  attentions,  of  a  character  not  wholly  dissimilar,  as  coming 
from  the  royal  side,  we  could  well  have  dispensed  with.  These 
were  from  Captain  Davenport  and  Colonel  Houssacker,  quondam 
whigs  and  officers  of  our  army.  The  first,  originally  appointed  a 
lieutenant  in  our  regiment,  had,  by  the  promotion  of  two  of  our 
captains  to  the  station  of  aids-de-camp,  and  of  our  major  to  the 
lieutenant-colonelcy  of  a  new  battalion,  risen  to  the  command  of 
a  company,  as  had  also  Tudor  and  Edwards,  the  latter  already 
spoken  of  as  my  first  lieutenant.  This  -Davenport  was  an  Irish 
man,  who  had  been  but  a  short  time  in  Philadelphia ;  but  by 
means  of  good  connexion  there,  an  air  of  the  world,  and  a  con 
summate  degree  of  effrontery,  he  had  obtained  not  only  a  com 
mission,  but  much  consequence.  He  dressed  well,  and  had  a 
plausible  exterior,  but  was  found  wholly  destitute  of  honour  and 
principle.  After  our  retreat  from  Long  Island,  he  remained  in 
New  York,  either  sick  or  pretending  to  be  so,  and  though  re 
peatedly  urged  and  commanded  to  join  the  regiment,  he  staid 
there  until  the  British  took  possession  of  it.  He  was  certainly  a 
voluntary  captive,  if  not  a  deserter ;  and  there  can  be  little  doubt 
that  he  had  renounced  our  cause  and  made  his  peace  with  the 
enemy.  He  notwithstanding  came  to  see  us,  and  wished  to 
be  sociable  as  formerly,  affecting  to  consider  himself  as  a  prisoner, 
and  alledging  in  proof  of  it,  his  confinement  in  the  provost  prison, 
where  I  believe  he  had  been  a  short  time.  We  understood  him, 
but,  as  we  had  no  absolute  certainty  of  his  baseness,  we  did  not 
think  it  necessary  to  discard  him  ;  for  as  he  frequented  the  coffee 
house,  mixed  with  the  British  army  and  tories,  we  often  received 
intelligence  through  him,  that  we  could  not  otherwise  have  ob 
tained  ;  and  as  he  cared  as  little  for  one  side  as  the  other,  his  only 
objects  being  whole  bones  and  an  adherence  to  the  prevailing  one, 
he  had  no  temptation  to  deceive  us.  As  to  Houssacker,  he  had 
been  originally  commissioned  a  Major  of  Wayne's  battalion.  He 
had,  if  I  mistake  not,  been  an  Adjutant  of  the  Royal  Americans ; 
and  was  considered  a  capable  disciplinarian.  He  was  a  German, 


238      DESERTERS  FROM  THE  CAUSE  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

or  rather  a  man  of  no  country  or  any  country ;  a  citizen  of  the 
world,  a  soldier  of  fortune,  and  a  true  mercenary.  Thinking  that 
our  cause  was  going  down  rapidly,  he  saw  no  reason  for  adhering 
any  longer  to  it ;  but  came  over  to  the  enemy  in  the  season  of  our 
extreme  adversity,  though  he  did  not  reach  us  until  after  the  affairs 
of  Trenton  and  Princeton.  Not  liking  the  name  of  a  deserter,  he 
called  himself  a  prisoner,  but  certainly,  if  he  was  one,  he  had 
made  much  better  terms  than  we  had.  He  told  us,  however,  that 
all  was  over ;  and  that  General  WASHINGTON  wras  reduced  to  the 
necessity  of  giving  enormous  bounties  for  only  two  or  three  weeks 
service  ;  that  by  means  of  these,  and  harranguing  his  troops,  he  con 
trived  to  keep  a  few  in  the  field,  but  that  there  was  not  the  smallest 
doubt,  that  the  business  was  up,  and  America  subdued.  His 
inference  was,  that  we  ought  immediately  to  make  our  peace. 
"  What  do  you  shut  yourselves  up  here  for  ?"  said  he,  in  his  rattling 
manner,  to  Miles,  Atlee  and  Magaw,  with  whom  he  was  acquainted. 
"  Why  don't  you  go  to  the  coffee-house  and  mix  with  the  British 
army,  as  I  do  ?  They  will  use  you  well  you  may  depend  upon  it. 
And,  to  be  sure,  the  thing  was  easy  enough ;  it  was  only  to  change 
sides,  to  cry  peccavi,  and  receive  forgiveness."  Nevertheless, 
Colonel  Houssacker  made  no  proselytes  to  his  opinion,  or  rather 
to  his  principles.  Our  affairs,  it  must  be  confessed,  were  at  a 
very  low  ebb ;  in  so  far,  at  least,  as  success  was  dependant  on 
sheer  fighting.  The  immense  multitude  which  had  taken  the  field 
in  the  beginning  of  the  summer,  was  no  longer  to  be  found :  it 
had  vanished ;  three  short  months  from  the  opening  of  the  cam 
paign,  had  melted  it  away.  Perhaps,  not  less  than  two-thirds  of 
it,  had  gone  home ;  no  inconsiderable  part  had  been  put  hors  de 
combat  by  the  enemy ;  and  the  feeble  remnant  yet  in  arms,  was 
not  calculated  to  inspire  confidence. 

Still  we  flattered  ourselves  that  things  were  better  than  they  ap 
peared  ;  and  notwithstanding  the  dire  bodings  of  Houssacker,  our 
spirits  were  not  a  little  raised  by  the  handsome  coups  fie  main  of 
Trenton*  and  Princeton ;  both  of  which  came  to  our  knowledge, 


*  Sec,  in  Appendix  I,  a  letter  from  General  WASHINGTON  to  Colonel  REED  or 
Colonel  CADWALADER.  SI-ARKS  says  he  did  not  find  this  letter  among  WASHING- 
TON'S  papers;  WILKINSON  gives  it  in  his  Memoirs,  but  he  does  not  mention 


AMERICAN  PROSPECTS.  239 

though  imperfectly.  The  mere  circumstance  of  showing  the 
country  that  the  enemy  was  not  invincible,  we  deemed  of  incal 
culable  importance.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  truth  was  disguised 
in  the  papers :  enough  was  learned  from  other  channels,  to  con 
vince  us  that  some  signal  advantages  had  been  obtained,  and  to- 
induce  a  belief  that  the  spirit  of  America  was  rising  with  the  crisis. 
We  were  always  anxious  to  see  the  newspapers,  though,  to  be 
disgusted  and  mortified,  was  the  never  failing  result  of  a  sight  of 
them.  But  mercilessly  as  they  be-rebelled  us,  the  refugees,  to  our 
great  delight,  were  not  always  spared ;  as  may  be  collected  from 
the  following  superlatively  stupid  paragraph,  which  appeared  in 
the  paper  of  Hugh  Gaines.  It  was  substantially,  if  not  precisely, 
in  these  words  : — "  One  of  the  rebels  who  had  lately  taken  the 
benefit  of  the  commissioners  proclamation,  complaining  to  a  British 
officer,  that  he  was  not  treated  as  a  gentleman,  the  officer  replied : — 
'  I  take  a  gentleman  to  be  a  man  of  honour,  and  as  it  is  plain  no 
rebel  can  be  such,  you,  having  been  one,  cannot  expect  to  be 
treated  better  than  you  are.' '  I  felt  a  strong  itch  to  cast  a  squib 
at  this  Boeotian  attempt  at  a  sarcasm ;  but  the  difficulty  was  to 
give  it  publicity.  There  was  no  getting  it  into  a  newspaper,  and 
detection  would  infallibly  have  obtained  the  author  a  lodging  in 
the  provost  prison.  Upon  consulting  with  Edwards,  it  was  agreed 
to  endeavour  to  have  it  placed  in  a  conspicuous  part  of  the  coffee 
house  ;  and  accordingly,  in  the  evening,  we  procured  a  black  boy, 
who,  for  the  small  fee  of  a  quarter  of  a  dollar  or  half  a  crown, 
undertook  to  lay,  unobserved,  the  following  production,  sealed 
and  addressed,  "  To  the  officers  of  the  British  army,"  in  one  of  the 
boxes  of  the  coffee-room : 

"  A  friend  to  government,  presents  his  warmest  and  most  sub 
missive  acknowledgments  to  his  £  very  worthy  and  approved  good 
masters,7  the  gallant  officers  of  the  British  army,  eve?'  pre-eminent 
in  mercy  *  for  their  manly  and  immortal  triumph  over  the  rebel, 
who  had  lately  the  unparalelled  audacity  to  appear  in  the  company 

whence  he  obtained  it.     Its  publication  by  WILKINSON,  who,  doubtless,  considered 
it  genuine, — and  SPARKS  agrees  with  him, — is  no  proof  of  its  authenticity.     On 
the  contrary,  from  internal  evidence,  we  should  pronounce  it  to  be  a  forgery. — ED. 
*  Words  in  a  letter  or  proclamation  of  General  Gage,  while  at  Boston. 


240  COFFEE-HOUSE  INCIDENT. 

of  gentlemen — I  say,  gentlemen  ;  for  from  that  witty  and  ingenious 
sarcasm,  which  appeared  in  Mr.  Games'  last  paper,  it  is  incon- 
testably  proved  that  no  rebel  can  be  such ;  and  it  is  therein  no  less 
clearly  demonstrated,  that  every  man  who  wears  a  red  coat,  and 
has  the  magnanimity  to  insult  a  person  in  his  power,  has  every 
claim  to  that  respectable  character,  which  humanity,  politeness 
and  true  heroism  can  confer.  But,  while  I  applaud  the  glory,  I 
cannot  but  condemn  the  policy  of  the  deed ;  for  who  knows,  but 
that  some  of  these  poor,  shabby  rascals,  may  have  the  arrogance 
to  call  thenselves  gentlemen  on  their  own  dunghill,  and  even  to 
venture  upon  retaliation  ?  It  is  true,  their  cowardice  and  mean 
ness  of  spirit,  have  hitherto  induced  them  to  treat  their  prisoners 
with  the  utmost  lenity  and  civility ;  but,  from  the  spirit  of  enter- 
prize,  they  have  lately  discovered,  it  is  much  to  be  feared,  that 
they  may,  one  day,  pluck  up  courage  enough  to  look  a  British 
officer  in  the  face,  or  even  to  insult  a  captive. 

"  But  I  wander  from  my  point,  which  was  merely  to  celebrate 
this  illustrious  exploit,  which  far  transcends  the  most  heroic 
achievements  of  your  ancestors.  How  shall  I  express  my  satis 
faction  of  your  conduct?  In  a  word,  I  am  dumb  with  admiration, 

and  '  in  silence  muse  your  praise.' ' 

i 

We  remained  in  ignorance  of  the  issue  of  our  machination, 
until  the  following  evening,  when,  Davenport  calling  upon  us, 
immediately  testified  by  his  countenance  (for  he  was  not  an  un 
pleasant  rogue)  that  some  amusing  mischief  Jiad  occurred.  "  You 
are  a  couple  of  pretty  fellows,"  said  he  to  Edwards  and  myself; 
"  you  have  made  a  devil  of  an  uproar  at  the  coffee-house!"  We 
affected  not  to  know  what  he  meant,  but  he  insisted  upon  it,  that 
it  was  by  us,  and  us  alone,  that  a  letter  had  been  addressed  to  the 
British  officers,  which  had  set  some  of  them  raving  mad.  We 
found  he  had  seen  it,  as  he  mentioned  its  contents.  Some  of  the 
officers,  he  told  us,  only  laughed  at  it,  and  said  it  was  very  well 
done,  while  others  were  so  outrageous,  as  to  put  up  a  notice  in 
the  coffee-room,  importing,  that  "  no  white-washed  rebel  should 
presume  to  set  his  foot  there  again,  under  pain  of  being  turned  or 
kicked  out ;"  for  they  supposed  it  to  proceed  from  a  refugee.  Da 
venport  judged  better;  and  was  persuaded  that  we  \vere  its 


BRITISH  PROVOST  MARSHAL ETHAN  ALLEN.  241 

authors ;  though  we  dissembled  so  well,  that  he  appeared  at  length 
to  doubt.  We  were  highly  tickled  at  the  success  of  the  con 
trivance,  but  knew  better  than  to  put  ourselves  into  the  power  of 
a  man  so  unprincipled.  He  several  times  afterwards  returned 
to  the  charge,  persisting  in  his  assertion  that  the  letter  was  ours ; 
but  we  were  so  guarded,  that  he  was  never  able  to  extort  from  us 
an  admission  that  we  knew  any  thing  of  the  matter:  To  have 
gotten  into  the  clutches  of  Conyngham,  would  have  been  paying 
too  dearly  for  our  joke. 

This  Conyngham  was  the  provost  marshal,  and  by  the  concur 
rence  of  all  who  had  been  under  his  dominion,  he  was  a  fellow 
that  would  not  have  disgraced  the  imperial  throne  of  the  Caesars, 
in  the  darkest  days  of  Roman  tyranny ;  nor  the  republic  of  France, 
at  the  most  refulgent  era  of  Jacobinism.  A  just  respect  for  the 
enlightened  and  moral  policy  of  our  rulers,  forbids  my  carrying  the 
adaptation  farther.  Davenport  himself  bore  testimony  to  his  vil- 
lany ;  one  of  whose  traits-,  was,  that  in  the  evening,  he  would 
traverse  his  domain  with  a  whip  in  his  hand,  sending  his  prisoners 
to  bed,  with  the  ruffian  like  Tattoo  of,  Kennel  ye  sons  of  bitches! 
Kennel,  G — d  damn  ye  !  Colonel  Ethan  Allen  too,  in  the  narra 
tive  of  his  captivity,  says,  that  "he  was  as  great  a  rascal  as  the 
army  could  boast  of,"  with  the  single  exception  of  Joshua  Loring, 
the  commissary  of  prisoners ;  and  he  winds  up  a  most  violent,  and 
possibly,  not  ill  deserved  invective  against  the  commissary,  in  the 
following  energetic  and  characteristic  strain  of  eloquence.  "  He 
(meaning  Loring)  is  the  most  mean  spirited,  cowardly,  deceitful 
and  destructive  animal  in  God's  creation  below ;  and  legions  of 
infernal  devils,  with  all  their  tremendous  horrors,  are  impatiently 
ready  to  receive  Howe  and  him,  with  all  their  detestable  accom 
plices,  into  the  most  exquisite  agonies  of  the  hottest  regions  of 
hell-fire."* 

*  ETHAN  ALLEN  was  a  Brigadier-General  in  the  Revolutionary  array.  He  was 
a  native  of  Connecticut,  but  received  his  very  limited  education  in  Vermont;  hia 
parents  having  emigrated  to  that  State  while  he  was  very  young.  "  At  the  re 
quest  of  the  Legislature  of  Connecticut,  Allen  collected  a  body 'of  about  230  Green 
Mountain  boys—as  the  settlers  of  Vermont  were  then  designated— and  marched 
against  the  Fortresses  of  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point.  At  Castlcton  he  was 
joined  by  Colonel  ARNOLD.  They  arrived  at  the  lake  opposite  to  Ticonderoga 
on  the  evening  of  May  9th,  and  having,  with  great  difficulty  procured  boats, 

21 


242  GENERAL  WILLIAMS COLONEL  ALLEN. 

Should  this  language  be  thought  too  highly  wrought,  it  should 
be  remembered,  that  few  have  ever  more  severely  felt  the  hand 
of  arbitrary  power  than  Allen ;  and  that  he  had  but  recently 
emerged  from  the  provost  guard,  to  which,  for  some  alleged  in 
fringement  of  parole,  he  and  Major  Otho  H.  Williams,  afterwards 
General  Williams,  a  very  gallant  and  already  distinguished  officer, 
had  been  committed.*  Allen  had  been  brought  from  Halifax  to 

landed  83  men  on  the  other  shore  during-  the  night.  The  day,  however,  begin 
ning  to  dawn,  Allen  was  obliged  to  attack  the  Fort  before  his  rear  could  cross 
the  lake,  having  previously  animated  his  soldiers,  by  a  harangue,  which  he  con 
cluded  with  saying,  '  I  now  propose  to  advance  before  you,  and  in  person  to  con 
duct  you  through  the  wicket-gate ;  but,  inasmuch  as  it  is  a  desperate  attempt,  I 
do  not  urge  on  any  one  contrary  to  his  will.  You  that  will  undertake  volun 
tarily,  poise  your  firelocks.'  They  all  immediately  poised  their  firelocks.  He 
then  advanced  at  the  head  of  the  centre  file  to  the  wicket-gate,  where  a  sentry 
snapped  his  fusee  at  him,  and  retreated,  followed  by  Allen,  who  formed  his  men 
upon  the  parade.  The  apartments  of  the  commanding  officer  having  been  pointed 
out  to  him  by  a  sentry  who  asked  for  quarters,  he  instantly  repaired  thither,  and, 
holding  his  sword  over  Captain  do  Laplace,  whom  he  found  undressed,  demanded 
the  surrender  of  the  Fort.  The  latter  asking  him  by  what  authority,  '  I  demand 
it,'  said  Allen,  *  In  the  name  of  the  Great  Jehovah,  and  of  the  Continental  Con 
gress.'  De  Laplace  was  constrained  to  comply,  and  the  Fort  with  its  stores  and 
garrison,  was  given  up.  General  Allen  was  a  man  of  strong  mind  and  of  an 
enterprizing  spirit.  He  was  taken  prisoner  in  Canada.  He  was  kept  in  irons 
and  treated  with  much  severity.  His  Narrative  of  his  captivity  is  curiously 
written,  but,  is  evidently,  a  faithful  account.  He  died  suddenly  in  1789.  Allen 
was  an  infidel.  He  adopted  sundry  wild  and  absurd  notions,  among  others,  be 
lieving  with  Pythagoras  that  the  soul  of  man,  after  death,  would  live  again  in 
beasts,  birds  and  fishes.  He  often  said  that  he  would  live  again  under  the  ap 
pearance  of  a  large  white  horse.  These  opinions,  however,  he  was  supposed  to 
profess,  more  from  an  affectation  of  singularity  than  conviction.  While  sitting 
in  his  library  conversing  with  a  physician,  Dr.  Elliot,  Allen  was  informed  that 
his  daughter  was  dying,  and  desired  to  speak  with  him.  He  and  Elliot  imme 
diately  repaired  to  her  chamber.  His  wife  was  distinguished  for  her  piety,  and 
had  instructed  her  daughter  in  the  principles  of  Christianity.  As  soon  as  her 
father  stood  at  her  bedside,  she  said  to  him,  '  I  am  about  to  die ;  shall  I  believe  in 
the  principles  you  have  taught  me,  or  shall  I  believe  in  what  my  mother  has 
taught  me?'  He  became  greatly  agitated;  his  chin  quivered;  his  whole  frame 
shook  ;  and,  after  waiting  a  few  moments, he  replied,  'Believe  what  your  mother 
has  taught  you.'  " — Ency.  Amer. 

"  Hear  the  voice  within, 

The  small,  still  voice  of  conscience,  hear  it  cry, 

AN  ATHEIST  THOU  MAY'ST  LIVE,  but  CAN'ST  NOT  DIE  !" — Gifford. — ED. 

*  OTHO  HOLLAND  WILLIAMS  :  He  rose  to  the  rank  of  Adjutant-Gcneral,  in  which 
station  he  remained  until  the  close  of  the  revolutionary  war.  He  greatly  distin- 


GENERAL  WILLIAMS COLONEL  ALLEN.  243 

New  York,  a  short  time  before  the  taking  of  Fort  Washington, 
and  was  admitted  to  parole  when  we  were.     His  figure  was  that 
of  a  robust,  large-framed  man,  worn  down  by  confinement  and 
hard  fare  ;  but  he  was  now  recovering  his  flesh  and  spirits ;  and 
a  suit  of  blue  clothes,  with  a  gold  laced  hat  that  had  been  pre 
sented  to  him  by  the  gentlemen  of  Cork,  enabled  him  to  make  a 
very  passable  appearance  for  a  rebel  colonel.     He  used  to  show  a 
fracture  in  one  of  his  teeth,  occasioned  by  his  twisting  off  with  it, 
in  a  fit  of  anger,  the  nail  which  fastened  the  bar  of  his  hand-cuffs ; 
and  which  drew  from  one  of  the  astonished  spectators,  the  ex 
clamation  of  "  damn  him,  can  he  eat  iron?"     I  had  become  well 
acquainted  with  him,  and  have  more  than  once  heard  him  relate 
his  adventures  while  a  prisoner  before  being  brought  to  New  York, 
exactly  corresponding  both  in  substance  and  language,  with  the 
narrative  he  gave  the  public  in  the  year  1779.     I  have  seldom  met 
with  a  man,  possessing,  in  my  opinion,  a  stronger  mind,  or  whose 
mode  of  expression  was  more  vehement  and  oratorical.     His  style 
was  a  singular  compound  of  local  barbarisms,  scriptural  phrases, 
and  oriental  wildness ;  and  though  unclassic  and  sometimes  un- 
grammatical,  it  was  highly  animated  and  forcible.     In  the  follow 
ing  sentence  of  his  narrative,  though  it  is  not  perhaps  strictly  cor 
rect  in  its  construction,  there  is  to  me,  a  flash  of  moral  pathos  not 
unworthy  of  a  Robertson.     "When  the  fleet,"  says  he,  "con 
sisting  of  about  forty-five  sail,  including  five  men  of  war,  sailed 
from  the  cove  (of  Cork)  with  a  fresh  breeze,  the  appearance  was 
beautiful,  abstracted  from  the  unjust  and  bloody  designs  they  had 
in  view."     Notwithstanding  that  Allen  might  have  had  something 
of  the  insubordinate,  lawless  frontier  spiritf  in  his  composition, 
having  been  in  a  state  of  hostility  with  the  government  of  New 
York  before  the  war  of  the  revolution,  he  appeared  to  me  to  be  a 
man  of  generosity  and  honour ;  several  instances  of  which  occur 
in  his  publication,  and  one,  not  equivocal,  came  under  my  own 

guishcd   himself  in  the  disastrous  battle  of  Camden.      Previous  to  the  disband- 
ment  of  the  army,  Congress  made  him  a  Brigadier-General.     He  died  in  1794. 

—ED. 

t  A  spirit  resembling  that  given  by  SCOTT  to  his  Borderers,  and  which  perhaps 
is  common  to  men  residing  on  the  verge  of  policed  communities,  when  the  law- 
is  feeble  and  inefficient,  and  consequently  contemned. 


244  RESULT  OF  APPLICATION  TO  GENERAL  HOWE. 

observation.  General  WASHINGTON,  speaking  of  him  in  an  official 
letter  of  May  the  12th,  1788,  observes,  with  a  just  discrimination, 
that  there  was  an  original  something  in  him  which  commanded 
admiration. 

The  representation  which  had  been  submitted  to  Gen.  Howe, 
in  behalf  of  the  suffering  prisoners,  was  more  successful  than  had 
been  expected.  About  a  week,  I  think,  after  its  delivery,  the 
memorialists  were  given  to  understand,  that  their  statement  and 
propositions  had  been  considered  by  Sir  William  Howe;  and  that 
he  was  disposed  to  accede  to  them.  These  were,  if  I  mistake 
not,  that  the  men  should  be  sent  within  our  lines,  where  they 
should  be  receipted  for,  and  an  equal  number  of  the  prisoners  in 
our  hands  returned  in  exchange.  Policy,  no  less  than  humanity, 
recommended  the  measure ;  since  our  men,  no  longer  soldiers 
and  too  debilitated  for  service,  even  should  they  incline  to  re-en 
list,  gave  a  claim  to  sound  men,  immediately  fit  to  take  the  field ; 
and  there  was,  moreover,  great  danger  that,  if  they  remained  in 
New  York,  the  disease  with  which  they  were  infected,  might  be 
spread  throughout  the  city.  That  these  considerations  had  their 
weight  in  the  favourable  result  of  the  application  cannot  be 
doubted.  At  any  rate,  hope  was  admitted  into  the  mansions  of 
despair  :  the  prison  doors  were  thrown  open,  and  the  soldiers 
who  were  yet  alive  and  capable  of  being  moved,  were  conveyed 
to  our  nearest  posts,  under  the  care  of  our  regimental  surgeons, 
to  them  a  fortunate  circumstance,  since  it  enabled  them  to  ex 
change  the  land  of  bondage  for  that  of  liberty,  and  to  return  to 
the  bosom  of  their  families  and  friends.  Among  these  was  Doctor 
M'Henry,  with  whom,  from  a  residence  in  the  same  house,  I  was 
becoming  intimate,  though  I  had  been  but  little  acquainted  with 
him  before.  The  mention  of  this  gentleman,  brings  along  with 
it  the  recollection  of  my  obligation  to  him,  for  his  kindness  and 
medical  care  of  me,  under  the  attack  of  a  quinsy,  but  a  very  few 
days  before  he  left  us.* 

Immediately  after  the  release  of  our  men,  a  new  location  was 

*  JAMES  McHENRY.  He  was  appointed  Secretary  of  War  by  WASHINGTON,  early 
in  1796,  and  was  dismissed,  with  Colonel  PICKERING,  Secretary  of  State,  by  the 
elder  President  ADAMS. — EJX 


EXCHANGE  OF  PRISONERS.  245 

assigned  to  us ;  and  on  the  22d  of  January,  (1777,)  as  I  find 
from  Ethan  Allen's  narrative,  though  my  recollection  would  have 
placed  it  in  the  middle  of  February,  we  were  removed  to  Long 
Island,  and  by  our  parole,  restricted  to  a  district,  consisting  of 
Flat-bush,  New-lots,  Flat-lands  and  Gravesend,  at  each  of  which 
places,  a  part  of  us,  were  billetted  on  the  inhabitants  by  Commis 
sary  Loring,  for  the  stipulated  sum  of  two  dollars  a  head  per 
week.  What  induced  our  removal  from  New  York,  I  never 
learned :  but  without  any  inclination  to  assign  undue  importance 
to  a  trifle,  it  is  not  improbable,  that  the  squib  thrown  into  the 
coffee-house,  as  already  mentioned,  might  have  had  its  influence 
in  bringing  about  the  measure.  Whatever  some  of  the  British 
officers  might  have  thought,  the  refugees  and  tories  could  have 
had  no  doubt  of  the  quarter  whence  it  came.  Its  tenor,  and  still 
more,  its  consequences  could  not  but  have  been  both  offensive 
and  mortifying  to  them ;  and  their  feelings  were  entitled  to  the 
attention  of  Sir  William  Howe,  whose  protection  they  had  sought. 
In  addition  to  this,  it  is  probable,  that  in  other  respects  we  did 
not  sufficiently  conform  to  the  state  of  humiliation,  in  which  it 
was  the  policy  to  place  us.  We  took  the  full  latitude  of  our 
parole,  traversing  the  streets  in  all  directions,  with  a  good  deal  of 
assurance ;  and  once,  when  the  Tea- water  pond  was  frozen  over 
and  covered  with  British  officers,  who  thought  themselves  skaters, 
a  few  of  us  were  audacious  enough  to  mingle  in  the  exercise, 
from  the  malicious  pleasure  more  than  any  thing  else,  of  showing 
them  what  arrant  bunglers  they  were.  But,  to  whatever  cause  it 
might  be  owing,  it  was,  to  the  generality  of  us,  a  most  unwelcome 
step.  It  was  placing  another  river  between  us  and  our  homes 
and  though,  in  fact,  we  should  be  as  visible  to  the  eyes  of  Con 
gress  on  Long  Island,  as  at  New  York,  we  could  not  but  consider 
the  measure  as  unpropitious  to  an  exchange ;  and  we  regarded 
our  transportation  across  the  East  river  as  a  consignation  to 
"dumb  forgetfulness,"  where,  no  longer  thought  of  by  friends  or 
foes,  we  were  destined  to  waste  the  best  of  our  days  in  a  state  of 
hopeless  captivity. 


246  SITUATION  OF    OFFICERS  AT  LONG  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Situation  of  Officers  at  Long  Island. — Society  at  Flat-bush. — Manners  of  the 
People. — Mr.  Bache. — Captain  Hutchins. — Domine  Reubell. — Domine  Van 
Zinder. — An  Excursion. — Public  Feeling. — Mr.  Wallace. — Officers'  Appoint- 
ments. — Obstructions  to  an  Exchange. — Hardships  of  Captivity. — Elegiac 
Stanzas  of  the  Author. — Obstacles  to  exchange  of  Officers. — Author  visited  by 
his  Mother. — Maternal  Anxiety. — British  Post. — Officers. — Sir  George  Osborne. 
Bon  Mot. — Aplications  for  Author's  release. — Application  to  General  Howe. — 
Author  liberated  on  his  Parole.— Reflections  on  War. 

FLAT-BUSH  was  the  place  assigned  for  the  officers  of  our  regi 
ment,  as  well  as  those  of  Magaw's.  Here  also,  were  stationed 
Colonels  Miles,  Atlee,  Rawlings  and  Major  Williams,  the  indul 
gence  of  arranging  ourselves  agreeably  to  our  respective  circles 
of  acquaintance,  having  been  granted  by  Mr.  Loring,  of  whom, 
for  my  own  part,  I  have  nothing  hard  to  say.  It  is  true,  he 
laboured  under  that  "  curse  of  great  ones,"  in  having  the  "  forked 
plague  "  fixed  on  him  by  Sir  William  :  Yet  as  there  is  little  doubt, 
that  he  considered  himself  amply  indemnified  by  his  office,  he 
was  not  "robbed  at  all."  Mr.  Forrest  and  myself  were  billetted 
on  a  Mr.  Jacob  Suydam.  His  house  was  pretty  large,  consisting  of 
buildings  which  appeared  to  have  been  erected  at  different  times, 
the  front  and  better  part  of  which,  was  in  the  occupation  of  Mr. 
Theophilact  Bache  and  his  family,  from  New  York.  Though  we 
were  in  general,  civilly  enough  received,  it  cannot  be  supposed, 
that  we  were  very  welcome  to  our  Low  Dutch  hosts,  whose  habits  of 
living  were  extremely  parsimonious,  and  whose  winter  pro  vision  was 
barely  sufficient  for  themselves.  Had  they  been  sure  of  receiving 
the  two  dollars  a-week,  it  might  have  reconciled  them  to  the 
measure  ;  but  payment  appeared  to  them  to  depend  on  the  success 
of  our  cause,  (Congress,  or  ourselves,  being  looked  upon  as  the 
pay-masters,)  and  its  failure,  in  their  eyes,  would  in  both  cases 


SOCIETY  AT  FLAT-BUSH.  247 

induce  a  stoppage  of  payment.  They  were,  however,  a  people 
who  seemed  thoroughly  disposed  to  submit  to  any  power,  which 
might  be  set  over  them ;  and  whatever  might  have  been  their 
propensities  or  demonstrations  at  an  earlier  stage  of  the  contest, 
they  were  now  the  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects  of  His  Majesty 
George  the  Third ;  and  entirely  obedient  to  the  behests  of  their 
military  masters  in  New  York.  As  it  was  at  the  instance  of  these, 
that  we  were  saddled  upon  them,  they  received  us  with  the  best 
grace  they  could  put  on.  Their  houses  and  beds  we  found  clean ; 
but  their  living  extremely  poor,  and  well  calculated  to  teach  the 
luxurious,  how  infinitely  less  than  their  pampered  appetites  re 
quire,  is  essential  to  the  sustentation  of  life.  In  the  apostrophe 
of  Lucan, 

"  O  prodiga  reruin 

Luxuries,  nunquam  parvo  contenta  paratu, 
Et  quaDsitorum  terra  pelagoque  ciborum 
Ambitiosa  fames,  et  lautae  gloria  mcnsas  ! 
Discite  quam  parvo  liceat  producere  vitam." 

Thus  translated  by  Rowe : 

"  Behold  !  ye  sons  of  luxury r  behold ! 
Who  scatter  in  excess  your  lavish  gold ; 
You  who  the  wealth  of  frugal  ages  waste, 
T"  indulge  a  wanton  supercilious  taste ; 
For  whom  all  earth,  all  ocean  are  explor'd 
To  spread  the  various  proud  voluptuous  board, 
Behold  !  how  little  thrifty  nature  craves." 

A  sorry  wash  made  up  of  a  sprinkling  of  bohea,  and  the  dark 
est  sugar  on  the  verge  of  fluidity,  with  half-baked  bread,  fuel 
being  among  the  scarcest  articles  at  Flat-bush,  and  a  little  stale 
butter,  constituted  our  breakfast.  At  our  first  coining,  a  small 
piece  of  pickled  beef  was  occasionally  boiled  for  dinner,  but,  to 
the  beef  which  was  soon  consumed,  succeeded  clippers  or  clams, 
and  our  unvaried  supper  was  supon  or  mush,  sometimes  with 
skimmed  milk,  but  more  generally  with  buttermilk  blended  with 
molasses,  which*was  kept  for  weeks  in  a  churn,  as  swill  is  saved 
for  hogs.  I  found  it,  however,  after  a  little  use,  very  eatable  ; 
and  supper  soon  became  my  best  meal.  The  table  company  con- 


248  MANNERS  OF  THE  PEOPLE. 

sisted  of  the  master  of  the  house,  Mr.  Jacob  Suydam,  an  old 
bachelor,  a  young  man,  a  shoemaker  of  the  name  of  Rem  Hager- 
man,  married  to  Jacob's  niece,  who,  with  a  mewling  infant  in  her 
arms,  never  failed  to  appear.  A  black  boy,  too,  was  generally  in 
the  room ;  not  as  a  waiter,  but  as  a  kind  of  enfant  de  maison, 
who  walked  about,  or  took  post  in  the  chimney  corner  with  his 
hat  on,  and  occasionally  joined  in  the  conversation.  It  is  pro 
bable,  that  but  for  us,  he  would  have  been  placed  at  the  table  : 
and  that  it  had  been  the  custom  before  we  came.  Certain  it  is, 
that  the  idea  of  equality,  wTas  more  fully  and  fairly  acted  upon  in 
this  house  of  a  British  subject  than  ever  I  have  seen  it  practised 
by  the  most  vehement  declaimers  for  the  rights  of  man  among 
ourselves.  It  is  but  fair,  however,  to  mention,  that  I  have  never 
been  among  our  transcendent  republicans  of  Virginia,  and  her 
dependencies.  But  notwithstanding  some  unpleasant  circum 
stances  in  our  establishment,  every  member  of  the  family,  the 
black  fellow,  to  whom  we  had  been  the  cause  of  some  privations, 
excepted,  wras  exceedingly  courteous  and  accommodating.  Rem 
Hagerman,  and  Yonichy,  his  wife,  gave  themselves  no  airs ;  nor 
was  our  harmony  with  uncle  Jacob  ever  interrupted,  but  on  a 
single  occasion,  when,  soured  a  little  by  I  know  not  what  provo 
cation,  he  made  a  show  of  knocking  down  Forrest  with  a  pair  of 
yam  stockings  he  had  just  drawn  from  his  legs,  as  he  sat  in  the 
chimney-corner  one  evening  preparing  for  bed.  It  was,  indeed, 
but  an  offer,  though  it  might,  for  aught  I  know,  have  amounted 
to  an  assault  in  law,  as  Jacob  was  not  so  far  from  the  person 
menaced,  but  that  the  feet  of  the  stockings,  if  held  by  the  other 
extremity,  and  projected  from  an  extended  arm,  might  possibly 
have  reached  him ;  and  a  pair  of  long- worn  yarn  stockings,  might, 
from  daily  alluvion,  have  acquired  somewhat  of  the  properties  of 
a  cudgel.  But  -moments  of  peevishness  were  allowable  to  our 
host ;  since,  though  we  had  for  some  time  been  consuming  his 
provisions,  he  had  never  seen  a  penny  of  our  money  and  it  was 
somewhat  doubtful,  to  say  the  truth,  whether  he  ever  would ;  for, 
considering  the  contractors  for  our  boarding  liable  for  it,  we  never 
thought  of  paying  it  ourselves.  As  the  Low  Dutch  are  a  people 
little  known  in  Pennsylvania,  and  more  especially,  as  it  is  my 
avowed  intention  to  advert  to  the  character  of  the  time,  this 


SOCIETY  AT  FLAT-BUSH.  249 

sketch  of  their  domestic  economy  and  manners,  may  not  be 
thought  impertinent.  In  a  word,  from  what  I  saw  of  them  on 
Long  Island,  I  was  led  to  consider  them  as  a  people,  quiet  and 
inofTensive  beyond  any  I  had  seen ;  such,  from  whom  no  enthu 
siastic  efforts,  either  of  good  or  evil  tendency,  were  to  be  looked 
for ;  who  were  neither  prolific  of  Catos  nor  Catilines ;  and  who, 
had  they  been  the  sole  occupants  of  this  great  continent  of  ours, 
would  still  have  been  colonists,  and  never  known  what  it  was  to 
be  independent  republicans.  Their  religious,  like  their  other 
habits,  were  unostentatious  and  plain ;  and  a  silent  grace*  before 
meat,  prevailed  at  the  table  of  Jacob  Suydam.  When  we  were 
all  seated,  he  suddenly  clasped  his  hands  together,  threw  his  head 
on  one  side,  closed  his  eyes,  and  remained  mute  and  motionless 
for  about  a  minute.  His  niece  and  nephew  followed  his  example ; 
but  with  such  an  eager  solicitude  that  the  copied  attitude  should 
be  prompt  and  simultaneous,  as  to  give  an  air  of  absurdity,  to 
what  might  otherwise  have  been  very  decent.  Although  little  of 
the  vernacular  accent  remained  on  the  tongues  of  these  people, 
they  had  some  peculiarities  in  their  phraseology.  Among  these, 
instead  of  asking  you  to  sit,  or  sit  down  to  table,  they  invited  you 
to  sit  by;  and  this  I  even  observed  in  General  Schuyler,  when  I 
was  at  Lake  George.  It  might  be  asked  by  a  stickling  New 
Yorker,  if  " sit  by"  is  not  as  proper,  and  even  more  so,  than 
"  sit  down,"  which,  in  strictness,  is  a  redundancy.  A  Philadel- 
phian  might  admit  it :  but  it  would  be  no  evidence  of  his  want  of 
candour,  should  he  add,  that  it  was,  nevertheless,  extremely  awk 
ward  English. 

*  Mrs.  GRANT,  in  her  "  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady,"  speaking-  of  the  state 
of  religion  among  the  settlers  about  Albany,  says,  "  Their  religion,  like  their 
original  national  character,  had  in  it  little  of  fervor  or  enthusiasm;  their  manner  of 
performing  religious  duties,  was  regular  and  decent,  but  calm,  and  to  more 
ardent  imaginations,  might  appear  mechanical.  None  ever  doubted  of  the  great 
truths  of  revelation,  yet  few  seemed  to  dwell  on  the  result  with  that  lively  delight 
which  devotion  produces  in  minds  of  keener  sensibility.  If  their  piety,  how 
ever,  was  without  enthusiam,  it  was  also  without  bigotry  ;  they  wished  others  to 
think  as  they  did,  without  showing  rancor  or  contempt  towards  those  who  did 
not.  In  many  individuals,  whose  lives  seemed  governed  by  the  principles  of 
religion,  the  spirit  of  devotion  seemed  to  be  quiescent  in  the  heart,  and  to  break 
forth  in  exigencies ;  yet  that  monster  in  nature,  an  impious  woman,  was  never 
heard  of  among  them." — Mem.,  chap.  v. — ED. 


250  MR.  BACHE MRS.  BACHE, 

The  morning  after  our  arrival  at  this  place,  we  encountered 
Mr.  Bache  in  the  piazza,  which  extended  the  whole  length  of 
the  building  on  the  south  side.  His  being  an  Englishman  and 
a  determined  royalist,  did  not  prevent  him  from  accosting  us 
very  civilly,  and  manifesting  a  disposition  to  maintain  a  friendly 
intercourse  with  us,  notwithstanding  the  difference  in  our  politi 
cal  sentiments.  Having  long  resided  in  New  York,  he  was  ac 
quainted  with  the  grounds  of  the  contest ;  and  well  knew,  that 
the  opposition  to  the  mother  country,  was  not  confined  to  a  low 
and  desperate  faction,  as  it  was  the  fashion  among  the  loyalists 
to  represent  it.  He  was  aware,  that  his  brother  in  Philadelphia,* 
(married  to  the  daughter  of  Doctor  Franklin)  had  embraced  the 
Whig  side  of  the  question,  as  well  as  others  of  the  first  respecta 
bility  in  America  ;  and  was,  therefore,  perfectly  sensible,  that  we 
were  not  the  insignificant  rebels,  which  policy  depicted  us.  But 
whatever  was  the  motive,  the  behaviour  of  Mr.  Bache  was  alto 
gether  free  from  intolerance  and  party  rancour :  it  was  more,  it 
was  hospitable  and  kind.  In  addition  to  frequent  invitations  to 
tea,  and  to  partake  of  his  Madeira,  to  help  us  along  a  little,  as 
he  expressed  it,  in  allusion  to  the  mean  fare  of  Jacob's  table,  I 
was  indebted  to  him  for  the  offer  of  his  purse,  although  he 
neither  knew  me  nor  my  connexions.  As  I  stood  in  no  need  of 
it,  I  declined  it,  but  with  a  due  sense  of  the  obligation  the  mere 
offer  imposed.  I  availed  myself,  however,  of  the  tender  of  his 
services  in  executing  small  commissions  for  me  when  he  went 
to  New  York,  which  was  almost  every  day ;  and  among  these, 
he  once  negociated  a  bill  of  exchange  in  my  favour,  on  Major 

*  Mr.  RICHARD  BACHE. — He  was  married  to  SARAH  FRANKLIN,  on  the  29th  of 
October,  1767.  It  was  of  this  patriotic  lady,  that  M.  DE  MARBOIS  thus  wrote  to 
Dr.  FRANKLIN,  from  Philadelphia,  on  the  4th  January,  1781  : 

"  If  there  arc  in  Europe  any  women,  who  need  a  model  of  attachment  to 
domestic  duties,  and  love  for  their  country,  Mrs.  BACHE  may  be  pointed  out  to 
them  as  such.  She  passed  a  part  of  the  last  year  in  exertions  to  rouse  the  zeal 
of  the  Pennsylvania  ladies,  and  she  made  on  this  occasion  such  a  happy  use  of 
the  eloquence  which  you  know  she  possesses,  that  a  large  part  of  the  American 
army  was  provided  with  shirts,  bought  with  their  money,  or  made  by  their  hands. 
In  her  applications  for  this  purpose,  she  showed  the  most  indefatigable  zeal,  and 
the  most  unwearied  perseverance,  and  a  courage  in  asking,  which  surpassed  even 
the  obstinate  reluctance  of  the  Quakers  in  refusing." — ED. 


CAPTAIN  HUTCH1NS.  251 

Small.  It  might  have  been  this  circumstance  which  led  the 
Major  to  a  knowledge  that  my  mother,  (at  whose  house  he  had 
long,  and  at  different  times,  been  a  lodger,  as  already  men 
tioned,)  had  sons  in  the  American  army.  For,  on  conversing 
once  with  Captain  Hutchins,  in  London,  on  the  subject  of  the 
war,  he  said  to  him,  "  would  you  have  believed  it,  Hutchins, 
that  Desdy  had  two  of  her  sons  in  arms  against  us?"  But  this 
fact  could  not  have  appeared  quite  so  unnatural  to  the  Captain, 
as  it  did  to  the  Major,  since,  not  very  long  after,  for  his  attach 
ment  to  the  American  cause,  he  was  obliged  to  relinquish  the 
British  service,  having  first  been  arrested  on  a  charge  of  trea 
sonable  practices.  Captain  Hutchins,  I  think,  was  a  native  of 
New  Jersey.*  On  his  coming  over  to  us,  he  was  appointed  to 
the  post  of  Geographer-General,  which  had  probably  been  created 
for  him.  From  his  long  and  frequent  residence  in  our  house,  he 
was  domesticated  in  it :  He  was  a  worthy  and  a  pious  man ;  but 
one,  who,  in  his  continued  complaints  of  the  injustice  of  the 
British  government,  in  not  fully  remunerating  his  services,  be 
trayed  but  little  knowledge  of  the  world.  Caesar,  it  is  true,  sent 
Labienus  his  pay  and  baggage,  when  that  officer  thought  proper 
to  join  the  standard  of  Pompey;  but  this  was  an  instance  of 
singular  generosity.  If  Captain  Hutchins,  after  spending  the 
greater  part  of  his  life  in  the  British  army,  chose  to  renounce  it 
for  that  of  America,  he  should  at  least  have  granted  to  his  old 
employers,  the  privilege  of  some  ill  humour,  and  not  have  been 
too  outrageous,  even  though  some  pecuniary  deficiency  had  been 
its  consequence:  what  was  patriotism  in  his  eyes — in  theirs, 
was  ingratitude  ;  and  the  right  of  thinking  was  mutual.  But  if 
these  vile  monarchists  were  unjust  to  a  relinquisher  of  their 
cause,  what  shall  we  say  of  the  conduct  of  our  own  republican 
rulers,  to  old  officers,  who  have  always  been  faithful  ?  Com- 

*  THOMAS  HUTCHINS,  to  whom  GeneralWASiiiNGTON  wrote, 20th  August,  1786, 
upon  the  subject  of  "authentic  documents  wanted  by  the  Empress  of  Russia, 
respecting  the  language  of  the  natives  of  this  country,  for  the  purpose  of  com 
piling  a  universal  Dictionary."  WASHINGTON  farther  writes :— "Persuaded  that  a 
gentleman  of  your  taste  for  science  in  general,  and  particularly  of  your  capacity 
of  acquiring  the  information  in  question,  will  enter  upon  the  task  with  pleasure, 
I  make  no  apology  for  troubling  you  with  it." — ED. 


252  DOMINE  REUBELL — DOMINE  VAN  ZINDER. 

paring  the  destiny  of  many  of  these  with  that  of  the  adherents  to 
the  British  government,  I  fear  we  shall  not  all  be  able  to  say 
with  Rousseau  :  Heureux,  toutes  les  fois  que  je  medite  sur  les 
governemens,  de  trouver  toujours  dans  mes  recherches,  de  nouvelles 
raisons  (Palmer  celui  de  mon  pays* 

Besides  Mr.  Bache,  there  were  at  this  time,  several  New 
Yorkers,  with  their  families,  residing  at  Flat-bush.  Of  these, 
Mr.  Axtle,  was  apparently  the  first  in  point  of  wealth  and  im 
portance.  I  think  he  had  been  of  the  Governor's  council.  He 
was  neatly  seated  at  a  country-house  at  the  entrance  of  the 
village  from  New  York ;  and  I  had  once  the  honour  of  supping 
with  him,  together  with  eight  or  ten  of  my  fellow-prisoners,  that 
had  been  selected  on  the  occasion.  What  the  object  of  this 
single  attention  was,  could  not  be  divined  ;  but  after  partaking 
of  the  hospitality,  it  would  be  wrong  to  ascribe  it  to  other  than 
a  liberal  motive,  and  after  having  obtained  a  footing  in  his 
house,  it  was  our  own  fault  that  it  was  not  improved.  In  the 
family  of  Mr.  Axtle,  there  was  a  Mr.  Frederick  Depeyster,  a 
young  man  better  known  in  the  village  by  the  fondling  appella 
tion  of  Feady  ;  and  two  young  ladies,  all  of  whom,  were  the 
relations  of  Mrs.  Axtle.  One  of  these,  a  Miss  Shipton,  had  so 
much  toleration  for  our  cause,  as  some  time  after,  to  marry  a 
Major  Giles  of  our  army.  Next  in  consequence  to  Mr.  Axtle, 
might  be  placed  Mr.  Matthews,  the  mayor  of  New  York,  who 
divided  his  time  between  the  village  and  the  city,  in  each  of 
which  he  had  a  house.  There  were  also  here  a  Mr.  Sherbroke, 
and  a  Mr.  Jauncey ;  and  Major  Moncrief,  of  the  British  army,  a 
relation  by  marriage  to  Mr.  Bache,  spent  much  of  his  time  here, 
where  he  had  a  daughter.  But  the  principal  personage  in  a  low 
Dutch  village  appears  to  be  the  Domine,  or  Minister;  and  Flat- 
bush,  at  this  time,  revered  her  Domine  Reubell,  a  rotund,  jolly 
looking  man,  a-  follower  of  Luther  and  a  tory,  on  whom  were 
billetted  Colonels  Atlee  and  Miles.  At  Flatlands,  an  adjacent 
hamlet,  there  was  also  a  Domine  Van  Zinder,  a  disciple  of  Cal 
vin,  and  a  Whig.  He  was  in  person  as  well  as  principles,  a 

*  Happy,  so  often   as   I  contemplate   ether  governments,  to  find,  in  my  re 
searches,  as  I  always  do,  new  reasons  for  loving  that  of  my  own  country  ! 


SOCIETY  AT  FLAT-BUSH — DOMINE  VAN  ZINDER.  253 

perfect  contrast  to  Mr.  Reubell,  being  a  lean  and  shrivelled  little 
man,  with  silver  flowing  locks,  "which  streamed  like  a  meteor 
to  the  troubled  air,"  as  he  whisked  along  with  great  velocity  in 
his  chair  through  Flat-bush.  Recalling  his  figure  and  triangular 
sharp-pointed  hat,  I  have  before  me,  the  express  image  of  the 
learned  Knickerbocker's  William  the  Testy.  This  latter  Domine 
was  distinguished  by  a  species  of  pulpit  eloquence,  which  might 
be  truly  said,  to  "  bring  matters  home  to  mens'  business  and 
bosoms."  Mr.  Bache  assured  me,  that,  in  once  descanting  on 
the  wily  arts  of  the  devil,  in  seducing  and  ensnaring  sinners,  he 
likened  him  to  my  landlord,  Jacob  Suydam,  sneaking  and  skulk 
ing  about  to  get  a  shot  at  a  flock  of  snipes ;  small  birds  of  the 
plover  kind,  which,  at  certain  seasons  are  very  numerous  on  the 
beach;  and  in  shooting  of  which,  old  Jacob,  it  seems,  was  emi 
nently  skilful  and  successful.  I  was  indebted  to  Mr.  Bache  for 
much  other  local  information;  and  was  gratified  to  find,  that  our 
defence  of  Fort  Washington,  was  considered  by  the  British 
officers,  as  far  from  pusillanimous  or  disgraceful.* 

There  was  a  fatiguing  sameness  in  our  occupations,  for  which 
we  had  no  cure.  During  a  residence  of  about  five  months 
upon  Long  Island,  I  was  but  once  beyond  the  limits  to  which 
we  were  restricted,  and  this  was  to  dine  with  Mr.  Wallace,  one 
of  the  principal  merchants  of  New  York,  who  now  resided  at 
Jamaica.  Together  with  Major  West  and  Captain  Lenox,  I 
had  been  recommended  to  him  by  the  house  of  the  Nesbits,  or 
of  Conyngham  and  Nesbit  (I  am  not  sure  of  the  firm)  in  Phila 
delphia,  to  whose  friendship  I  was  also  indebted,  as  it  was  un 
solicited,  for  a  letter  of  credit  on  him,  which,  however,  I  had  no 
occasion  to  use.  An  instance,  by  the  by,  of  the  liberal  uses  of 
that  commerce,  which,  in  the  enlarged  and  enlightened  mind  of 
Mr.  Jefferson,  only  tends  to  corrupt  and  narrow  the  heart;  and 
to  sink  those  employed  in  it,  into  the  most  worthless  part  of  the 
community.  It  was  this  circumstance,  which  procured  us  an 
invitation  to  dine  with  him;  to  enable  us  to  do  which,  he  had 
obtained  for  us  a  temporary  dispensation  from  our  parole,  from 

*  Even  General  HOWE  declared  that  the  place  had  been  well  defended  by  the 
"Rebels."— ED. 
22 


254  AN  EXCURSION — PUBLIC  FEELING. 

Mr.  Loring.  We  cheerfully  availed  ourselves  of  the  little  va 
riety  this  visit  would  afford  us,  and  waited  upon  Mr.  Wallace, 
who  entertained  us  with  much  hospitality.  But  there  was  one 
incident,  I  must  confess,  I  did  not  altogether  relish:  perhaps  it 
was  designed  as  a  delicate  mode  of  assuring  us,  that  the  civility 
we  received,  was  not  to  be  considered,  in  any  degree  as  a  tolera 
tion  of  our  principles.  After  dinner,  the  son  of  our  entertainer, 
a  boy  of  about  seven  or  eight  years  of  age,  came  into  the  room, 
and  his  father  putting  a  glass  of  wine  into  his  hand,  asked  him 
what  he  drank.  "  Church  and  King,"  pronounced  the  little 
fellow,  in  an  audible  voice.  I  did  not  know  until  now,  that  I 
had  made  so  much  progress  in  republicanism.  Although  loyalty 
to  the  king,  had  but  lately  been  an  ardent  feeling  in  America, 
and  had  certainly  been  mine ;  and  although  I  had  recently  con 
templated  becoming  an  Episcopalian,  from  an  idea  that  it  was 
the  duty  of  all  men  to  conform  to  the  established  religion  of  their 
country,  where,  to  their  minds,  there  were  no  essential  objections 
to  its  tenets — yet  the  sentiment  appeared  to  me  degrading  and 
slavish  in  the  extreme.  This  is  an  instance  how  much  our  opi 
nions  are  swayed  by  our  passions  and  habits,  and  a  corrobora- 
tion  of  the  remark  of  Lord  Chatham,  "that  the  first  blood  drawn 
in  the  contest,  would  prove  an  irritabile  vulnus,  a  wound  that 
could  not  be  healed,  but  which  would  fester  and  mortify  the 
whole  body." 

Upon  our  first  arrival  at  Jamaica,  after  putting  up  our  horses 
at  an  inn,  we  concluded  to  take  a  ramble  through  the  town  be 
fore  we  went  to  Mr.  Wallace's.  We  had  accordingly  strolled 
to  nearly  the  end  of  the  main  street,  when  we  observed  a  soldier, 
or  non-commissioned  officer,  coming  after  us.  We  suspected 
his  business  to  be  with  us,  when  approaching  with  due  military 
etiquette,  he  gave  us  to  understand,  that  he  came  by  order  of 
Colonel  Fanning,  who  desired  to  speak  with  us  at  his  quarters. 
WTe  immediately  returned  with  him,  and  were  conducted  to  the 
colonel,  who  informed  us,  that  he  presumed  we  were  prisoners ; 
and  if  so,  as  we  were  without  our  limits,  he  conceived  it  his 
duty  to  inquire  into  the  cause  of  it.  We  told  him  that  we  came 
to  dine  with  Mr.  Wallace,  who,  we  understood,  had  obtained 
permission  for  us  so  to  do,  from  the  commissary  of  prisoners* 


AN  EXCURSION — MR.  WALLACE.  255 

Had  we  any  certificate  or  evidence  of  this  ?  he  asked.  We  re 
plied,  we  had  not,  as  we  had  entirely  referred  the  matter  to  Mr. 
Wallace,  and  relied  upon  his  assurance  that  we  were  privileged. 
Finding  that  he  still  seemed  to  consider  it  a  dubious  point,  whe 
ther  we  ought  to  be  detained  or  set  at  liberty,  we  thought  it  time 
to  assert  ourselves,  a  little,  and  told  him  that  it  was  a  matter  of 
the  utmost  indifference  to  us,  what  part  he  might  adopt.  After 
a  moment's  consideration,  however,  he  thought  proper  to  dismiss 
us.  This  Mr.  Fanning  had  been  secretary  to  Governor  Try  on, 
and  now  commanded  a  regiment  of  new  levies,  stationed  at  this 
place.  Though  we  assumed  some  cavalier  airs  on  the  occasion, 
it  cannot  be  said,  that  the  colonel  had  exceeded  his  duty,  or  be 
trayed  any  wantonness  of  authority. 

As  Mr.  Wallace  was  from  Ireland,  it  probably,  would  not  have 
comported  with  the  hospitality  of  his  table,  to  have  suffered  us 
to  leave  it,  unexhilarated.  He  pushed  the  bottle,  therefore  ;  and 
detained  us,  anti-church  and  king-men,  as  we  were,  until  we 
had  received  as  much  of  his  Madeira,  as  we  could  carry  home 
with  any  tolerable  convenience. 

Among  the  very  few  incidents  which  occurred  to  vary  the 
wearisome  sameness  of  Flatrbush,  was  the  arrival,  one  day,  of 
two  or  three  officers  of  the  British  guards,  to  pay  their  respects 
to  Captain  Richardson  of  Magaw's  regiment,  who,  they  had  but 
lately  learned,  was  the  brother  of  Colonel  Francis  Richardson, 
already  mentioned  in  the  early  part  of  these  Memoirs.  I  did  not 
see  them,  but  the  circumstance  was  related  to  me  by  Edwards, 
who  was  cruelly  mortified  in  the  reflection,  that  a  worse  speci 
men  in  outward  appearance  of  the  officers  of  our  army,  could 
hardly  have  been  found,  than  in  the  person  of  Captain  Richard 
son.  In  addition  to  a  mean  slouching  figure,  he  was  disgustingly 
slovenly,  and  wretchedly  calculated  to  support  either  the  dignity 
of  his  brother  or  our  army.  Whether  he  was  unlucky  enough 
to  be  found  by  his  visiters,  I  do  not  recollect;  but  it  was  un 
questionably  the  interest  of  those  who  were  piqued  for  the  repu 
tation  of  the  American  service,  to  keep  him  out  of  sight,  or  at 
least,  to  have  him  furbished  up  before  appearing.  As  it  was  the 
policy  of  the  enemy  to  vilify  us,  and  depreciate  our  cause  by  re 
presenting  its  supporters  as  vulgar  and  contemptible,  it  conse- 


256  OFFICERS'  APPOINTMENTS. 

quently  stimulated  us  to  appear  to  as  much  advantage  as  possible. 
Those  who  may  think  we  attached  too  much  importance  to  a 
good  exterior,  in  the  situation  in  which  we  were,  know  nothing 
of  the  qualifications  respected  among  military  men;  and  they 
would  betray  no  less  ignorance  of  the  common  feelings  of  man 
kind,  should  they  doubt  that  the  respectability  of  our  army  was 
not  of  vast  importance  to  our  undertaking  :  as  much,  if  not  more, 
I  will 'venture  to  affirm,  than  even  the  respectability  of  Congress, 
a  small,  invisible  body,  not  possessing  the  means  of  sensible  im 
pression  on  the  mass  of  the  people.  In  civil  contests,  it  is  highly 
requisite  for  the  party  in  opposition  to  government,  to  counteract 
the  advantage  of  recognised  authority,  by  an  appearance  that 
may  raise  them  above  contempt,  than  which  nothing  can  be 
more  unfavourable  to  them.*  This  was  strikingly  exemplified 
at  least,  in  our  revolution;  and  is  another  instance  of  its  dissimi 
larity  to  that  of  the  French,  whose  object  being  the  subversion 
of  society,  found  its  early  strength  to  consist  in  the  vaunted  base 
ness  of  its  partisans. 

We  had  now  been  captive  nearly  seven  months,  and  the  ob 
stacle  to  an  exchange,  seemed  in  no  likelihood  to  be  removed. 
We  had  seen  the  letters  which  had  passed  upon  the  subject,  be 
tween  the  commanders  of  the  two  armies;  and  although  we  were 
satisfied  with  the  reasoning  on  our  side,  and  consoled  in  some 
degree,  by  the  feeling  manner,  in  which  our  situation  was  ad 
verted  to  by  General  WASHINGTON,  \ve  \vere  far  from  being  re 
conciled  to  our  fate.  Notwithstanding  that  Lee's  being  consi 
dered  as  a  deserter  by  Sir  William  Howe,  was  the  ostensible  bar, 
it  occurred  to  me,  that  the  reluctance  felt  by  Congress  to  restoring 
without  an  equivalent,  the  British  soldiers  in  their  possession, 
was  their  principal  motive  for  disagreeing  to  any  cartel  that 
should  be  attended  with  that  consequence.  The  rash,  though 
not  undeserved  letter  to  the  Council  of  safety  too,  stared  full  in 
the  face,  the  unlucky  wights,  who  had  been  indiscreet  enough 

*  "  The  habits  and  prejudices  of  the  English  people,"  says  Mr.  Fox,  in  his 
History  of  the  Reign  of  James  II.,  "are  in  a  great  degree  aristocratical;  nor  had 
he  (the  Duke  of  Monmouth)  before  him,  nor  indeed  have  we  since  his  time,  had 
one  single  example  of  an  insurrection  that  was  successful,  unaided  by  the  ancient 
families  and  great  landed  proprietors." 


OBSTRUCTIONS  TO  AN  EXCHANGE.  257 

to  put  our  names  to  it:  and,  as  the  council  might  be  supposed 
to  have  some  influence  in  the  general  concerns  of  the  Confedera 
tion,  we  sometimes,  in  our  desponding  fits,  conceived  ourselves 
no  less  the  victims  of  resentment  than  of  policy.  Before  our 
removal  to  Long  Island,  Colonel  Miles  had  been  permitted  to 
visit  his  family  in  Pennsylvania ;  and  as  he  had  been  charged 
with  some  proposals  relative  to  an  exchange  of  prisoners,  he  had 
an  interview  with  General  Howe,  either  upon  his  going  in,  or 
his  return.  On  this  occasion,  he  received  no  very  favourable 
impression  of  the  literary  talents  or  critical  acumen  of  his  Excel 
lency,  who,  in  commenting  on  the  communications  of  General 
WASHINGTON,  among  other  shrewd  remarks,  observed,  that  they 
were  very  badly  compiled.  For  the  General  himself,  he  expressed 
much  respect ;  but  lamented  that  he  was  surrounded  by  a  set  of 
lawyers,  who  led  him  astray,  and  who  contributed  to,  if  they 
did  not  solely  cause,  this  bad  compilation  of  his  letters.  Who 
compiled  for  Sir  William,  is  not  ascertained,  that  I  know  of,  but 
I  believe  it  was  generally  admitted,  that  in  this  particular,  he 
was  not  better  served  than  General  WASHINGTON.  General  Lee 
tells  us,  that  u  McKensey,  Balfour,  and  Galloway  were  his 
scribes;  and  that  all  the  damned  stuff  which  was  issued  to  the 
astonished  world,  was  theirs." 

Captivity  is  justly  comprehended  in  the  catalogue  of  human 
woes;  its  poignancy  is  recognised  by  Shakspeare  in  his  play  of 
Othello,  and  it  is  among  the  calamities,  which  are  particularly 
adverted  to,  in  the  excellent  liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England. 
What  peculiar  sickness  of  the  heart  it  is,  may  be  collected  from 
Howe's  beautiful  allusion  to  it,  in  the  waitings  of  Calista. 

"  So  the  poor  captive  in  a  foreign  realm, 
Stands  on  the  shore  and  sends  his  wishes  back, 
To  the  dear,  native  land  from  whence  he  came." 

How  often  have  I  done  this  from  the  summit  of  the  com 
manding  heights  which  bounded  our  district  towards  Brooklyn, 
and  afforded  an  extensive  view  of  East  Jersey.  Here,  like  Torn 
Jones,  from  the  top  of  Mazard  hill,  and  for  a  similar  cause,  have 
I  frequently  reflected  with  a  sigh  upon  the  vast  tract  of  land, 
which  lay  between  me  and  my  home.  For  although  the  par- 

2.2* 


258  ELEGIAC  STANZAS  OF  THE  AUTHOR. 

ticular  object  of  my  contemplation,  was  not  within  my  sight,  I 
had,  as  was  observed  of  Jones,  by  his  discerning  companion,  a 
pleasure  in  looking  that  way.  In  my  melancholy  hours,  I  had 
made  this  spot,  the  scene  of  an  elegiac  essay,  where,  having  lo 
cated  my  forlorn  captive,  about  sunset,  I  say, — 

Here  on  the  lofty  summit  as  he  stood, 

His  wistful  eyes  still  sought  the  western  shore; 

There,  ting'd  with  gold,  the  distant  hills  he  view'd 
Where  yet  her  sons  fair  freedom's  ensign  bore. 

My  unaffected  conviction  of  the  poverty  of  my  poetic  talent,  for 
bids  a  recital  of  more  than  a  few  stanzas  of  my  fragmentary  pro 
duction,  which  are  selected,  as  well  because  they  serve  to  show 
my  impressions  at  the  time,  in  regard  to  the  cruelty  of  the  enemy, 
as  that  they  confer  attributes  on  General  WASHINGTON,  which 
seem  precisely,  those  which  are  the  award  of  the  present  day, 
and  will  be  that  of  all  posterity.  After  a  bitter  apostrophe  to 
Howe  for  the  imputed  murder  of  our  soldiery,  the  doom-de- 
aouncing  bard  proceeds, 

For  Heaven  is  just,  and  though  the  dazz'ling  rays 

Of  royal  favour,  dignify  thy  name, 
Yet  dire  remorse  shall  tear  thy  future  days, 

And  hist'ry  damn  thee  to  eternal  fame. 

Then  too,  shall  truth  impartially  record, 

The  gen'rous  efforts  of  the  patriot  few, 
Rous'd  by  their  wrongs  to  draw  th'  the  avenging  sword, 

And  crush  fell  tyranny's  destructive  crew. 

First  in  the  deathless  animating  page, 
Thy  fame,  great  WASHINGTON  !  illustrious  shines  ; 

Unsullied  by  the  breath  of  party  rage, 

More  brilliant  than  Golconda's  glitt'ring  mines  : 

For  conduct,  dignity  and  valour  fam'd, 
'Midst  dark  adversity  serenely  great, 
Thy  dauntless  soul  with  godlike  ardour  flam'd 
And  soar'd  above  the  scowling  blasts  of  fate. 

Twas  then,  majestic  Delaware  !  thy  wave, 
Became  immortal  from  the  splendid  deed,  &c. 


OBSTACLES  TO  EXCHANGE  OF  OFFICERS.  259 

When  the  attempt  to  settle  a  cartel  had  proved  abortive,  it 
was  rumored  that  we  were  to  be  shipped  for  England ;  and  this 
we  should  generally  have  preferred  to  remaining  where  we  were. 
We  figured  to  ourselves  something  of  the  nature  of  an  adventure 
in  the  measure  ;  and  from  what  Ethan  Allen  had  told  us,  we  did 
not  doubt  that  we  should  find  in  it,  some  sources  of  gratification. 
The  step,  however,  was  not  rationally  to  be  looked  for ;  there 
could  be  no  inducement  to  it,  though  there  might  be  for  the 
threat,  upon  the  supposition  that  we  had  connexions  powerful 
enough  to  prevail  with  Congress  for  an  exchange.  The  most 
sanguine  among  us,  had  now  given  up  the  hope  of  deliverance; 
and,  in  addition  to  the  pining  tediousness  of  our  situation,  that 
engine  for  breaking  hearts,  the  provost-prison,  was  ever  open  to 
receive  the  victims  of  brutal  insolence  and  malignity.  That  this 
was  no  chimera,  the  following  incident  will  prove.  Some  fel 
lows,  one  morning,  on  the  road  to  New  York  market  with  fish, 
were  stopped  by  Captain  Lenox  and  two  other  officers,  Lieute 
nant  Wright  of  Maryland,  and  Lieutenant- Stewart  of  Delaware, 
I  think,  who  wished  to  buy  some  ;  but  they  were  told  by  the 
fishmongers,  that  they  would  not  sell  to  rebels.  This  produced  re 
proachful  language  on  both  sides,  when  the  officers  laying  hold 
of  the  fish,  began  to  bandy  them  about  the  jaws  of  the  ragamuf 
fins  that  had  insulted  them.  A  complaint  was  immediately 
lodged  with  General  Robertson ;  the  accused  were  escorted  by 
a  guard  to  New  York,  and  on  the  statement  of  the  complainants, 
being  found  in  aggression,  they  were  required  to  make  acknow 
ledgements  to  the  injured  ;  which,  refusing  to  do,  they  were 
forthwith  consigned  to  the  custody  of  the  provost-marshal. 
With  him  they  remained  for  two  or  three  weeks;  but,  at  length, 
were  released,  without  being  held  to  the  concessions  at  first  de 
manded.  Conyngham,  it  seems,  had  used  them  well ;  partly 
owing,  probably,  to  instructions  from  General  Robertson,  and 
partly  to  Mr.  Lenox's  being  well  supplied  with  money  and  ap 
pearing  of  consequence,  which  better  than  any  thing  else,  is  cal 
culated  to  mollify  the  heart  of  a  genuine  caitiff  in  power. 

It  was  a  generally  received  opinion  among  us,  that  a  close 
confinement  would  be  a  virtual  cancelling  of  our  parole ;  and 
hence,  when  these  gentlemen  were  returned  to  their  district, 


260  CAPTAIN  HUCK. 

without  the  exaction  of  a  new  one,  they  submitted  it  to  a  board  of 
officers,  whether  or  not  they  would  be  justified  in  going  away. 
I  forget  what  officers  composed  the  board ;  I  only  recollect  that 
Colonel  Ethan  Allen  was  one,  and  that  his  opinion,  was  that  of 
a  man  of  honour  and  sound  casuist.  He  admitted,  that  they  had 
a  right  to  escape  from  their  actual  confinement,  but  that  now  the 
case  was  altered  ;  and  that,  although  no  new  parole  had  been 
given,  yet  the  obligation  of  the  former  one,  should  be  considered 
as  returning  on  their  enlargement ;  and  that  they  were'  under  the 
same  restraint,  in  point  of  honour,  that  they  had  been  before 
their  commitment  to  the  provost.  This  was  also  the  opinion  of 
the  board,  and  unanimously  approved,  as  well  by  the  gentlemen 
immediately  interested,  as  by  others.  I  have  mentioned  this  cir 
cumstance,  principally  to  show,  that  Allen,  however  turbulent  a 
citizen  under  the  old  regime,  was  not  the  vulgar  ruffian,  that  the 
New  York  royalists  represented  him. 

While  in  this  state  of  dejection,  from  the  unavailing  negotiation 
to  establish  a  cartel,  an  incident,  as  little  expected,  as  any  other 

within  the  compass  of  possibility,  took  place. It  was,  to 

the  best  of  my  recollection,  early  in  the  month  of  June,  that,  one 
day,  meeting  with  Mr.  Christian  Huck,*  the  lawyer,  a  refugee 
from  Philadelphia,  at  Flat-bush,  informed  me,  that  my  mother 
was  in  New  York.  The  astonishment  and  even  incredulity,  I 
expressed  by  my  manner,  induced  him  to  repeat  his  assurance 
that  such  was  the  fact,  that  he  had  seen  her  and  conversed  with 
her,  and  that  I  might  expect  to  see  her  at  this  place,  either  on  the 

*  Afterwards  Captain  HUCK,  of  Tarlcton's  Dragoons,  I  think,  and  the  same 
who  was  killed  in  South  Carolina  in  1730-1.  "This  Mr.  Huck"  says  Mr.  Gray- 
don,  u  had  read  law  in  Philadelphia,  with  Mr.  Isaac  Hunt,  before  mentioned,  and 
had  received  the  early  part  of  his  education  at  the  Charity  School  of  the  Acade 
my,  when  I  was  a  pupil  there.  He  is  spoken  of  in  our  accounts  of  him,  as  a 
monster  of  profaneness  and  cruelty.  But  this  ferocity  must  have  been  acquired 
by  the  fury  with  which  the  war  was  waged  in  the  Southern  quarter,  as  I  remember 
nothing  of  these  tiger-qualities  in  him,  and  I  knew  him  from  his  boyish  years  up 
to  those  of  manhood.  If  he  was  distinguished  for  any  thing,  it  was  for  an  af 
fected  sapience  and  a  pretension  to  more  knowledge  than  he  possessed.  A  wag 
gish  fellow-student  of  his,  the  late  MR.  EDWARD  TILGHMAN,  aware  of  this  trait  in 
his  character,  once  asked  him  if  a  Felo-de-se  could  inherit  an  estate,  when  Huckv 
applying  his  finger  to  his  nose,  in  an  attitude  of  profound  thought,  replied,  that, 
in  some  cases,  he  believed  he  could.'* 


AUTHOR  VISITED  BY  HIS  MOTHER.  261 

present  or  succeeding  day.  Although  aware  that  she  yielded  to 
none  in  the  ardour  of  maternal  affection,  yet  nothing  could  be 
more  unlooked  for  than  this  event;  and  even  the  pleasure  1  pro 
mised  myself  in  seeing  her,  did  not  compensate  for  the  disappro 
bation  I  felt  at  the  imprudence  of  the  undertaking ;  improper,  in 
every  point  of  view,  in  which  I  could  contemplate  it.  When  I 
reflected  upon  the  difficulties  she  had  to  encounter,  and  her 
timidity  in  every  mode  of  travelling,  and  particularly  by  water, 
which  would  be  occasionally  necessary'in  her  journey,  I  could  not 
but  conclude,  that  there  must  be  some  very  extraordinary  motive 
for  it ;  and  my  desire  to  meet  her,  was  mixed  with  a  painful 
anxiety. 

She  arrived  the  day  after  she  had  been  announced,  having  hired 
a  person  at  Brooklyn,  to  bring  her  from  thence  in  a  chair.  Her 
only  object,  I  found,  wras  to  see  me,  and  to  endeavour  to  procure 
my  release  on  parole ;  as  she  had  heard,  that  we  were  harshly 
treated,  and  on  the  point  of  being  sent  to  England.  The  fatigue 
and  anxiety  of  her  journey,  had  so  far  overcome  her,  that  on 
reaching  New  York,  she  had  been  ill  for  a  few  days,  and  had  put 
herself  under  the  care  of  a  Doctor  Carlton  or  Charlton,  who,  though 
he  appeared  to  have  acquitted  himself  well  enough  as  a  physician, 
had  extremely  shocked  and  disgusted  her  by  his  intolerant  tory- 
isrn.  Upon  finding  what  her  errand  was,  he  seemed  to  take 
pleasure  in  confirming  to  her,  that  the  prisoners  wrere  to  be  sent 
to  England,  and  hanged  there,  he  added,  for  aught  that  he  knew : 
but  that,  at  any  rate,  it  was  what  they  richly  deserved.  She  had 
been  visited,  I  learned,  by  the  Aliens,  or  some  of  them,  Hack,* 
as  already  mentioned,  and  some  others  from  Philadelphia,  who 
were  anxious  to  hear  what  was  going  on  in  that  quarter.  Upon 


*  General  HENRY  LEE  disposes  of  HUCK  in  a  very  summary  manner.  "Cap 
tain  HUCK,  of  Tarleton's  legion,  had  been  detached  by  Lieutenant-Colonel  TURN- 
BULL,  commanding1  at  Hanging  Rock  to  disperse  some  of  the  exiles  of  South 
Carolina,  who  had  lately  returned  to  the  State  and  were  collecting  in  the  neigh 
bourhood  of  that  place  to  assist  in  protecting  their  country.  The  captain,  with 
forty  dragoons,  twenty  mounted  infantry,  and  sixty  militia,  ventured  thirty  miles 
up  the  country  where  the  very  exiles  he  was  sent  to  disperse,  attacked  and  de 
stroyed  his  detachment.  The  captain,  notorious  for  his  cruelties  and  violence, 
was  killed,  as  were  several  others,  and  the  rest  dispersed." — Er>. 


262  OBSTACLE  TO  A  RELEASE  OF  PRISONERS. 

mentioning  her  business  to  Mr.  John  Allen,  he  advised  her  not  to 
be  scrupulous  as  to  the  terms  of  my  release,  since  the  business 
would  very  soon  be  over,  and  a  pardon  be  all  that  could  be  ob 
tained  by  any  who  had  borne  arms.  But  before  stating  what  took 
place  on  this  side  of  the  lines,  let  us  go  back  a  little  to  what  oc 
curred  on  the  other. 

The  projected  undertaking  had  been  long  in  contemplation ; 
and  the  friends  as  well  as  members  of  the  family  had  been  con 
sulted  on  the  occasion.  Some  advised  it,  but  the  greater  part 
disapproved  of  it.  Having  acquaintances  on  both  sides,  my 
mother  indiscriminately  took  their  opinions ;  and  so  far  as  party 
feeling  appeared  to  enter  into  the  question,  it  was  observable,  that 
the  tpries  were  for  the  measure,  the  whigs  against  it.  The  former 
were,  of  course,  advocates  for  the  benignity  of  General  Howe ; 
and  as  they  were  incredulous,  or  affected  incredulity,  as  to  the  ill 
treatment  of  prisoners,  they  would  have  rejoiced  in  her  success, 
as  an  instance  to  the  contrary.  The  latter,  did  not,  in  the  first 
place,  think  the  application  would  be  of  any  avail ;  and,  as  upon 
this  particular  occasion,  they  were  in  the  predicament,  which 
Rochefoucault  tells  us,  all  men  are  in  at  all  times,  viz.,  that  of 
"  discovering  something  in  the  misfortunes  of  their  best  friends, 
which  does  not  entirely  displease  them,"  they  would,  probably, 
have  been  better  satisfied,  that  we  should  all  have  grown  old 
in  captivity,  than  have  become  vouchers  for  British  clemency  by 
an  immediate  release :  As  it  was  inconvenient  for  Congress  to 
exchange  us,  it  appeared  to  them  much  better  that  we  should  re 
main  prisoners  until  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  if  peradventure  we 
should  so  long  live,  than,  by  coming  out  on  parole,  furnish  the 
tories  with  a  circumstance  they  might  turn  to  the  advantage  of 
their  side.  So  stern  a  thing  is  patriotism,  when  the  comfort  of 
third  persons  only  is  concerned !  As  my  mother,  however,  pos 
sessed  too  little  of  the  Roman  spirit  to  be  duly  moved  by  such 
magnanimous  considerations,  the  feelings  of  nature  prevailed; 
and  she  resolved  on  the  enterprize.  She  purchased  a  horse  and 
chair  for  the  occasion,  and  set  out  for  Philadelphia,  her  residence 
being  at  this  time  at  Reading,  to  which  place,  she  had  removed, 
with  several  other  families  of  her  acquaintance,  in  the  preceding 
winter,  when  the  enemy  had  penetrated  through  Jersey  to  the 


MATERNAL  ANXIETY.  263 

Delaware.  On  her  arrival  in  the  city,  one  Fisher,  a  Scotchman, 
and  relation  of  my  grandmother,  was  officious  in  tendering  his 
service  to  drive  her  to  New  York.  As  he  was  a  retailer  of  dry 
goods,  his  object,  no  doubt,  was  traffic  ;  and  to  bring  home  with 
him  some  scarce  light  articles,  in  the  chair  box.  The  offer  was 
accepted ;  they  set  off,  and  had  nearly  reached  Princeton,  when, 
to  their  great  astonishment,  they  were  overtaken  by  a  detachment 
of  cavalry,  which  had  been  sent  in  pursuit  of  them,  with  orders  to 
arrest  their  progress.  The  cause  was  this.  Fisher,  it  seems,  wras 
a  tory  either  real  or  putative ;  and  the  fact  having  been  made 
known  to  General  Mifflin,  who  was  then  in  the  city,  it  had  set  him 
a  fidgeting,  and,  as  no  one  could  exactly  foresee  the  consequences 
that  might  result  to  the  infant  nation,  should  a  suspected  Scotch 
shop-keeper  get  out  of  Philadelphia  into  New  York ;  the  hue  and 
cry  on  the  occasion,  was  proportionably  eager  and  vehement.  It 
cannot  be  denied,  however,  that  the  proceeding  was  quite  in 
rule.  The  culprits  were  immediately  taken  into  custody ;  but 
my  mother's  guilt  being  merely  that  of  bad  neighbourhood, 
(iiimium  vicina  Cremona ,)  having  been  wholly  ignorant  of 
the  political  tenets  of  her  companion,  she  wras  conducted  to 
the  quarters  of  General  Sullivan,  who  commanded  at  this 
post.  Here  she  remained  until  due  order  was  taken  in  the  pre 
mises,  when,  she  found,  that,  instead  of  proceeding  on  her  jour 
ney,  she  was  under  the  necessity  of  retracing  her  steps  towards 
Philadelphia,  under  an  escort  of  horse.  When  they  had  got 
back  as  far  as  Bristol,  means  were  found  for  Mr.  Fisher,  the 
only  prisoner,  to  pursue  his  way,  without  the  chair,  with  which 
he  had  been  accommodated  so  far;  and  Colonel  M'llvaine,  an 
old  and  particular  friend,  and  indeed  connexion  of  the  family, 
kindly  offering  to  accompany  my  mother  to  the  Head  Quarters  of 
our  army,  from  whence,  the  proper  measures  might  be  taken  for 
her  proceeding  into  the  British  lines  ;  her  horse's  head  was  once 
more  turned  towards  New  York.  They  reached  the  hospitable 
mansion  of  Mr.  Vanhorne,  of  Bound-brook,  on  the  evening  of 
the  day  they  set  out.  It  fortunately  turned  out,  that  he  had 
been  acquainted  with  my  father,  and  having  connexions  in 
Brunswick,  he  furnished  my  mother  wyith  a  letter  of  introduction 
extremely  useful  to  her,  on  her  arrival  there.  Passing  over  un- 


264  MATERNAL  ANXIETY. 

important  particulars,  she  was  conducted  with  her  horse  and 
chair  to  the  enemy's  lines,  by  Major  Scull,  who  was  then  obliged 
to  leave  her,  and  commit  her  to  the  courtesy  of  some  Hessian 
officers,  who  were  on  duty  there.  It  happened,  during  the  cere 
mony  of  the  flag,  that  a  gun  was  somewhere  discharged  on  our 
side  of  the  lines.  This  infringement  of  military  etiquette,  was 
furiously  resented  by  the  German  officers,  who  expressed  them 
selves  with  a  vehemence  of  gesture  extremely  alarming  to  my 
mother,  who  discovered  what  it  related  to,  from  the  frequent 
repetition  of  the  words^/kg-  of  truce;  the  only  ones  she  under 
stood.  She  supported  herself  as  well  as  she  could,  under  this 
inauspicious  introduction  into  the  hostile  territory ;  and  remain 
ing  in  her  chair,  her  horse  was  led  by  a  soldier  to  the  quarters 
of  General  Matthew  or  Matthews,  who  commanded  in  Bruns 
wick.*  Here,  she  alighted,  and  was  shown  into  a  parlour, 
where,  in  a  few  minutes,  were  set  before  her  a  decanter  of  wine 
and  some  biscuits.  Being  faint,  and  much  in  need  of  refresh 
ment,  she  helped  herself  to  a  biscuit,  and  drank  two  glasses  of 
wine ;  the  first  having  proved  so  cordial  and  restorative  to  her 
dejected  spirits,  as  to  induce  her  to  take  a  second.  General 
Matthews  did  not  keep  her  very  long  in  waiting;  and,  on  his 
appearing,  being  made  acquainted  with  her  object,  and  desire 
of  being  passed  on  to  New  York,  as  soon  as  might  be  conve 
nient,  he  promised  it  should  be  attended  to :  his  manner  was 
that  of  a  man  of  humanity  and  perfect  good  breeding.  Upon 
leaving  the  General's  quarters,  her  first  care  was  to  deliver  the 
letter  of  Mr.  Vanhorne.  She  readily  found  the  house  of  the 
person  to  whom  it  was  addressed,  (I  think  Mr.  Clarkson)  was 
invited  in,  and  seated  alone  in  a  parlour.  There  soon  after 
came  in  two  or  three  British  officers,  who,  entering  into  conver 
sation  with  the  ease  of  men  of  fashion,  gave  her  to  understand 
that  there  had  been  a  ball  the  preceding  evening,  at  which  had 
been  the  Misses  Vanhornes,  the  ladies  whom  they  now  called  to 
see.  These  gentlemen,  one  of  whom  was  Sir  John  Wrottesley, 

*  There  is  a  General  MATTHEW  spoken  of  by  Mr.  Cumberland  near  the  close  of 
his  Memoirs.  A  son  of  Mr.  Cumberland  had  married  the  General's  daughter, 
and  he  is  called  "  a  truly  noble  and  benevolent  gentleman."  In  all  probability  he 
is  the  same  who  commanded  at  Brunswick. 


BRITISH  POST — OFFICERS — DUNOP.  265 

were  such  frequent  visiters  at  this  house,  that  my  mother,  during 
her  stay  in  it,  became  pretty  well  acquainted  with  them,  as  I 
found,  upon  her  once  meeting  Sir  John,  with  Miss  Susan  Van- 
home,  in  the  street  of  Flat-bush.  Accosting  her  in  a  very 
sociable  manner,  he  adverted  to  the  circumstance  of  her  finding 
me,  who  had  then  the  honour  of  being  introduced  to  him ;  and  less, 
I  cannot  say,  British  baronet  though  he  was,  since  his  demeanour 
was  truly  gentlemanly  and  worthy  of  his  rank.  By  the  same 
means,  she  had  the  opportunity  of  often  seeing  Colonel  Donop,* 
a  Major  Hendricks  and  a  Major  Pauli,  all  of  the  German  troops; 
the  latter  of  whom,  was  polite  enough  to  take  charge  of  her  horse 
and  chair;  to  promise  to  send  them  to  Mr.  Vanhorne's,  at 
Bound-brook,  and  in  the  mean  time,  to  supply  the  necessary 
forage. 

There  were  five  of  the  Misses  Vanhorne,  all  handsome  and 
well  bred,  who,  not  long  after,  with  their  mother,  a  widow  lady> 
removed  from  this  place  to  Flat-bush.  A  Mr.  Clarkson,  who 
was  a  connexion  of  theirs;  if  I  mistake  not,  their  uncle  by  mar 
riage,  and  the  very  gentleman,  at  whose  house  they  staid  at 
Brunswick,  and  at  which,  my  mother  was  so  hospitably  enter 
tained,  had  a  house  also  at  Flat-bush.  Being  a  whig,  he  had 
left  it  on  the  approach  of  the  enemy ;  and  it  had  been  a  good 
deal  injured  by  the  Germans.  He  was  now  permitted  to  return 
to  it;  and  Mrs.  Vanhorne  and  her  daughters  came  along  with 
him.  Perhaps  the  way  to  this  measure,  was  smoothed  by  the 
interest  of  the  officers  already  mentioned ;  and  ladies  often  are 
the  means  of  mitigating  the  ferocities  of  war. 

After  being  detained  a  week  or  more  at  Brunswick,  my  mother, 
with  a  number  of  other  passengers,  embarked  in  a  sloop  or 
shallop,  for  New  York.  The  vessel  in  her  passage,  was  fired 
upon  by  some  of  our  people  from  the  shore,  but  without  injury 

*  Count  DONOP  ;  He  was  made  a  prisoner  at  Red-Bank,  and  WASHINGTON,  in 
his  letter  to  CHRISTOPHER  GREENE,  October  24th,  ITT1?,  says,  "Count  Donop  in 
particular,  is  a  man  of  importance^  and  ought  by  all  means  to  be  taken  care  of!" 

"  He  died  of  his  wounds.,"  says  Sparks,  "three  days  after  the  action,  at  a  house 
near  the  fort.  A  short  time  before  his  death,  he  said  to  Monsieur  Duplessis,  a 
French  officer,  who  constantly  attended  him  in  his  illness.  '  It  is  finishing  a 
noble  career  early ;  I  die  the  victim  of  my  ambition  and  of  the  avarice  of  my 
sovereign.' " — ED. 

23 


266  SIR  GEORGE  OSBORNE — BON  MOT. 

to  any  one,  and  the  destined  port  was  at  length  attained  without 
farther  difficulty.  Among  the  many  unexpectedly  agreeable 
circumstances  of  her  situation  at  Brunswick,  there  were  some 
unpleasant  ones  she  had  no  means  of  avoiding.  Although  the 
political  conversation  of  the  British  officers  ought  to  have  been 
restrained  in  the  presence  of  the  Misses  Vanhorne,  who  had  some 
relations  in  our  Service,  it  was  sometimes  such  as  to  be  ex 
tremely  offensive  to  an  American  ear.  An  instance  of  this  kind 
arose  from  the  following  circumstance.  A  young  man  of  our 
army  had  been  recently  killed  by  the  British  cavalry,  and  his 
body  so  cruelly  hacked  and  mangled  by  their  sabres,  that  General 
WASHINGTON  thought  proper  to  send  it  in  for  their  inspection. 
It  was  brought  to  the  post  of  Sir  George  Osborne,  who  with  much 
admired  sangfroid,  simply  returned  for  answer,  that  he  was  no 
coroner.  This  circumstance  was  a  theme  of  considerable  merri 
ment,  and  the  bon  mot  of  Sir  George  not  a  little  applauded. 

As  Mr.  Bache  with  his  family,  had  been  latterly  a  good  deal 
in  New  York,  and,  consequently,  his  part  of  Mr.  Suy  dam's 
house,  become  less  necessary  to  him,  he  permitted  my  mother 
to  occupy  it  during  her  stay  at  Flat-bush.  This  was  highly  con 
venient  to  her,  and  she  became,  in  some  degree,  naturalized  to 
her  new  situation.  Her  accustomed  flow  of  good  spirits  re 
turned;  and  as  she  came  pretty  well  supplied  with  cash,  she 
contrived  to  get  something  better  than  clippers  and  supon;  and 
to  give  one  or  two  tea-drinkings,  at  which  the  rebel  clan  that 
attended  them,  was  honoured  with  the  company  of  some  of  the 
Misses  Vanhorne,  avowed  whigs,  notwithstanding  their  civility 
to  the  British  officers.  She  also  availed  herself  of  the  opportunity 
of  learning  from  Major  Williams,  the  art  of  making  Johnny 
cakes,  in  the  true  Maryland  fashion ;  and  good  part  of  an  after 
noon,  I  remember,  was  spent  in  the  notable  cookery.  But  these 
recreations  did  not  interfere  with  the  object  of  her  expedition, 
and  her  design  of  getting  me  home.  I,  in  vain,  endeavoured 
to  dissuade  her  from  her  purpose.  She  was  resolved  to  prove 
the  result  of  an  application  ;  and,  in  this  view,  in  one  of  her  first 
visits  to  New  York,  called  upon  Mr.  Galloway,  who  was  sup 
posed  to  have  much  influence  at  Head  Quarters.  He  spoke  en 
couragingly  of  the  attempt,  and  said,  he  had  little  doubt,  but  it 


267 

would  succeed.  What  would  be  the  proper  mode  of  applying 
to  Sir  William  Howe  ?  she  asked.  By  memorial,  said  Mr.  Gal 
loway  ;  at  the  same  time,  kindly  offering  to  sketch  one  out  for 
her,  if  she  chose  it.  As  she  could  do  no  less  than  accept  his  offer, 
and  thank  him  for  it,  he  went  to  work,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
produced,  what  he  said,  accorded  with  his  ideas  on  the  subject. 
He  then  read  to  her,  what  he  had  written,  purporting,  that, 
"Whereas  Mrs ,  had  always  been  a  true  and  faithful  sub 
ject  of  his  Majesty  George  the  Third;  and  whereas,  her  son,  an 
inexperienced  youth,  had  been  deluded  by  the  arts  of  designing 
men," "  O,  sir,"  said  she,  "  that  will  never  do  ;  my  son  can 
not  obtain  his  release  on  these  terms."  "Then,  madam,"  said 
he,  somewhat  peevishly,  "I  can  do  nothing  for  you."  She  en> 
deavoured  to  soften  as  well  as  she  could,  the  refusal  to  comply 
with  what  he  had  recommended,  and  left  him,  a  good  deal 
depressed  in  her  expectations.  Fearful,  that,  in  her  ardour  to 
obtain  her  object  she  might  be  tempted  to  go  too  far,  I  had  cau 
tioned  her  against  yielding  to  any  improper  concessions  ;  and 
had  solemnly  declared,  that  I  would  accept  of  my  enlargement 
upon  no  other  terms  than  those  of  an  exchange,  or  a  parole. 
This  first  discomfiture,  did  not  induce  an  abandonment  of  her 
pursuit:  in  a  matter  which  interested  her  feelings,  no  one  was 
more  persevering;  and  she  continued  to  advise  with  every  one, 
she  thought  likely  to  have  influence,  and  a  disposition  to  assist  her. 
Among  the  rest,  she  addressed  herself  to  a  Mr.  Andrew  Elliot,  a 
person  of  respectability,  and  well  known  both  in  Philadelphia 
and  New  York.  His  advice  was,  that  she  should  go  at  once  in 
person  to  General  Howe.  Those  you  have  applied  to,  or  may 
apply  to,  said  he,  have  little  or  no  interest,  though  they  may  not 
choose  to  say  so;  but  a  direct,  personal  application  to  the 
Commander-in-chief,  will,  I  verily  believe,  be  propitious  to  your 
wishes.  She  had  been  some  time  between  Flat-bush  and  New 
York,  before  this  was  suggested  to  her ;  and  she  secretly  re 
solved  to  take  an  opportunity  of  putting  it  in  execution.  On 
one  of  her  excursions  to  the  city,  she  had  been  waited  upon  by 
her  old  acquaintance,  Captain  Grant,  of  the  forty-second  regU 
ment.  From  him  she  found,  that  Colonel  Stirling,  and  most  of 
the  old  officers  of  the  regiment,  were  there ;  but  upon  Grant's 


268  APPLICATION  TO  GENERAL  HOWE. 

being  unable  to  deny,  that  he,  and  consequently,  the  rest  of 
them,  knew,  she  had  a  son  a  prisoner,  she  at  once  testified  by 
the  coldness  of  her  manner,  that  she  had  expected  something 
better  from  them  than  a  total  neglect  of  me.  Unacquainted  with 
the  human  heart,  under  the  baneful  influence  of  party  fury,  and 
making  no  allowance  for  the  repulsive  nature  of  misfortune, 
especially  when  coupled  with  imputed  guilt,  she  had  made  cal 
culations  little  warranted  by  the  practice  of  the  world,  more  par 
ticularly  of  that  part  of  it,  which  is  flushed  with  prosperity. 

On  account  of  some  meditated  operation  of  the  army,  no  one 
at  this  time  was  permitted  to  pass  the  lines ;  and  so  far  from  get 
ting  me  home  with  her,  she  was  not  without  anxiety  respecting 
her  own  return,  which  had  been  already  longer  protracted  than 
she  had  counted  upon.  This  interdiction  of  intercourse  continued 
for  several  weeks ;  but  as  soon  as  it  was  removed,  and  it  became 
probable,  that  General  Howe's  attention  was  less  engrossed  by 
great  concerns,  she  determined  to  give  the  advice  of  Mr.  Elliot, 
a  trial.  Accordingly,  one  morning  she  went  to  New  York,  and 
without  acquainting  me  with  her  design,  which  she  knew  I  would 
oppose,  boldly  waited  upon  Sir  William  Howe ;  and  asking  to 
speak  with  him,  was  shown  into  a  parlour,  where,  taking  a  seat, 
and  meditating  upon  the  manner  of  addressing  him  when  he  should 
appear,  he  came  into  the  room,  and  had  got  pretty  near  her  before 
she  perceived  him.  Rising,  she  said,  "  Sir  William  Howe,  I 
presume !"  He  answered  by  a  bow.  She  then  made  known  her 
business,  doubtless  in  her  best  style  of  elocution,  and  concluded 
by  expressing  the  greatness  of  her  obligation  for  his  Excellency's 
permission  for  me  to  go  home  with  her  on  parole.  "And  then 
immediately  to  take  up  arms  against  us  again,  I  suppose !"  said 
the  General.  "  By  no  means,  sir ;  I  solicit  his  release  upon  parole  ; 
that  will  restrain  him  until  exchanged :  but  on  my  own  part,  I  will 
go  farther,  and  say,  that  if  I  have  any  influence  over  him,  he  shall 
never  take  up  arms  again."  Here,  the  feelings  of  the  patriot 
were  wholly  lost  in  those  of  the  "  war- detesting  "  mother.  The 
General  seemed  to  hesitate,  but  gave  no  answer.  On  the  renewal 
of  her  suit,  however,  he  appeared  by  his  manner,  for  he  was 
sparing  of  words  to  assent,  and  so  she  construed  it.  But  to  put 
the  matter  out  of  doubt,  she  asked,:  "Havel  your  Excellency's 


AUTHOR  LIBERATED  ON  PAROLE.  269 

permission  for  my  son  to  go  home  with  me  on  his  parole  ?"  Bow 
ing,  he  answered  "  yes."  "  May  Colonel  Miles  and  Major  West," 
added  she,  be  permitted  to  go  also  ?"  "  Now,  madam,"  observed 
the  General,  "you  are  making  two  requests  instead  of  one." 
She  begged  his  pardon  for  presuming  to  do  so,  as  she  ought  cer 
tainly  to  be  satisfied  with  the  great  favour  already  granted  ;  and 
inquired  if  she  was  to  mention  the  matter  to  Mr.  Loring.  He 
said  it  was  unnecessary,  as  the  proper  measures  would  be  taken 
to  effect  the  purpose.  The  reason  of  her  mentioning  Colonel 
Miles,  and  Major  West,  was,  that  they  had  already  obtained  a 
promise  of  being  liberated  on  parole ;  and  she  was  apprehensive,, 
that  unless  they  were  put  upon  the  same  footing  with  me,  I  should 
suspect  improper  terms  had  been  made,  and  mar  the  whole  busi 
ness.  This  caution,  probably,  was  unnecessary ;  the  boon  was 
extended  to  these  gentlemen,  as  I  presume  it  would  have  been, 
had  they  not  been  mentioned.  From  the  General's  quarters  she 
immediately  went  to  Mr.  Loring,  whom  she  had  known  in  Phila 
delphia,  where  he  had  some  time  resided,  and  acquainted  him 
with  the  indulgence  which  had  been  granted  her ;  upon  which,  he- 
was  pleased  to  observe,  that  it  was  more  than  I  was  entitled  to, 
as  not  one  of  the  prisoners  had  been  more  upon  his  high  horse. 

Whatever  grounds  there  maybe  for  ascribing  cruelty  to  General 
Howe,  it  must  be  admitted,  that  no  obduracy  appeared  at  this  in 
terview  ;  and  I  have  been  careful  to  give  it,  precisely  as  it  was 
related  by  my  mother.  War,  indeed,  in  its  essence  is  cruelty,  espe^ 
eially  civil  war :  Its  tendency  is  to  make  men  ferocious  and  merci 
less.  In  conflicts,  in  which  our  lives  are  continually  at  stake,  we 
at  length  become  callous  even  to  the  loss  of  our  own  party,  and 
have,  of  course,  still  less  concern  for  the  destruction  of  our  ad 
versaries,  notwithstanding,  that  particular  situations  may  some 
times  call  forth  striking  examples  of  sympathy  and  generosity., 
When,  moreover,  we  consider  the  foe  as  obnoxious  to  legal 
punishment,  our  hearts  are  too  apt  to  be  steeled  against  all  "com 
punctious  visitings  of  nature."  Such  seems  to  be  the  nature  of 
man ;  and  the  apathy  of  Howe  to  the  miseries  of  his  prisoners, 
serves  to  show  that  he  was  too  like  the  bulk  of  his  species,  ever 
prone  to  severity  against  the  opposers  of  established  authority, 
when  partaking  of,  or  friendly  to  it.  What  was  the  conduct  of 

23* 


270  REFLECTIONS  ON  WAR. 

the  Duke  of  Alva,  in  the  Low  Countries  ?  That  of  the  British, 
which  we,  as  liege  subjects,  did  not  then  disapprove,  against  the 
rebels  in  the  year  forty-six,  commemorated  by  Smollet,  in  his 
"Mourn,  hapless  Caledonia,  mourn?"  What  were  the  hideous 
enormities  of  the  French  republicans  against  the  people  of  La 
Vendee,  and  what  mercy  was  evinced  towards  Burr,  by  the  high- 
toned  advocates  of  prerogative,  under  the  mild  sway  of  Mr.  Jef 
ferson?  Though  the  abuse  of  power  is  always  detestable,  yet  it 
may  not  be  improper  to  look  at  home,  before  wre  devote  others 
to  destruction  as  monsters  of  unheard  of  cruelty.  I  neither  have 
palliated,  nor  do  I  mean  to  palliate  the  sufferings  of  the  prisoners 
at  New  York :  they  were  shocking  to  humanity,  and  no  one  wit 
nessed  them  with  more  anguish  than  myself;  but  this  is  no  reason 
that  we  should  not  ask  ourselves  whether  it  was  to  be  expected, 
that  they  were  at  once  to  be  set  at  liberty,  and  if  not,  what  other 
mode  or  place  of  confinement  was  within  the  power  of  the 
enemy?  or  if  the  want  of  good  and  sufficient  food,  and  other  ac 
commodations  was  the  cause  of  the  mortality,  are  we  perfectly 
sure  they  had  better  to  administer  ?  If,  in  an  entirely  new  state 
of  the  world,  we  are,  on  account  of  former  injuries,  to  reject  the 
aid  of  the  only  nation  upon  earth  which  has  power  to  rescue  us 
from  impending  perdition,  it  certainly  behoves  us,  to  inquire 
calmly  into  the  extent  of  her  aggressions,  and  for  our  own  sakes, 
if  not  for  hers,  or  the  sake  of  justice,  to  admit  the  effect  of  any 
alleviating  circumstances  which  may  be  found.  But  few  of  us,  I 
trust,  are  in  the  unhappy  predicament,  to  have  been  so  hysterically 
alarmed  during  the  wax,  as  to  be  unable  to  forgive  ;  or  to  have 
incurred  disgraces  which  can  only  be  washed  out  and  avenged 
by  the  common  destruction  of  our  old  enemy  and  ourselves. 


AUTHOR  LEAVES  NEW  YORK.  271 


CHAPTER  XL 

The  Author  leaves  Long  Island  for  New  York  and  Elizabethtown. — Author  ar 
rives  at  New  York. — Travelling  Companions. — Tench  Coxe. — Arrival  at  the 
American  Camp.  —  General  Washington.  —  Colonel  Hamilton. — American 
Army. — General  Wayne. — Occurrences  on  the  Road. — Author  arrives  at  Phila 
delphia. — Arrival  at  Reading. — Political  Feelings. — Declaration  of  Independ 
ence. — Character  of  Franklin. — Leading  Men. — Mr.  Canon. 

IT  was  not  long  before  the  welcome  summons  arrived  for  our 
repairing  to  New  York,  for  the  purpose  of  being  transported  from 
thence  in  a  flag  vessel  to  Elizabethtown ;  and  upon  this  occa 
sion,  we  were  escorted  to  the  end  of  the  village,  by  a  no  small 
troop  of  our  less  lucky  fellow-prisoners.  It  was  made  a  condi 
tion  by  Loring,  that  our  boarding  should  be  paid  before  we  left 
Flat-bush;  and  the  heart  of  old  Jacob,  was  accordingly  gladdened 
by  the  sight  of  a  sum  of  money  he  had  despaired  of  receiving. 
He  and  I  parted  very  good  friends;  and  it  was  but  justice  to  say, 
that  the  treatment  I  received  from  him  and  his  family,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Hagerman,  was  both  civil  and  obliging.  As  there  was  no 
subject  upon  which  we,  prisoners,  had  been  so  much  in  the  dark, 
and  were  at  the  same  time,  so  anxious  to  be  informed  of,  as  that 
of  the  state  of  our  army  and  public  affairs  in  general,  Tudor, 
on  my  coming  away,  furnished  me  with  a  kind  of  cypher,  by 
which,  as  soon  as  I  had  time  to  inform  myself,  I  was  to  satisfy 
him  by  letter  on  certain  points  he  particularly  wished  to  know. 
The  disguise  was  not  in  the  character,  but  in  the  substitution  of 
one  piece  of  information  for  another, — for  instance,  a  lady  who 
was  to  be  named,  was  to  signify  the  army,  and  if  that  was  strong 
and  in  a  prosperous  train,  it  was  to  be  indicated  by  announcing 
the  health  and  charming  looks  of  the  lady.  There  was  a  scale 
in  the  key,  by  which  the  intelligence  might  be  graduated;  and 


272  AUTHOR  ARRIVES  AT  NEW  YORK. 

it  was  so  contrived,  as  to  admit  of  the  transmission  of  pretty 
satisfactory  information  in  a  few  important  particulars.  Know 
ing  the  deep  interest  that  was  taken  in  the  expected  communi 
cation,  it  was  among  my  first  cares  on  getting  home,  to  perform, 
this  duty.  But  I  must  admit,  that  my  statements,  though  correct 
in  the  main,  were  rather  more  flattering,  than  rigid  truth  would 
warrant.  I  could  not  endure  the  thought  of  reducing  my  com 
panions  in  misfortune  to  despair.  It  was  certainly  admissible  on 
this  occasion,  to  adopt  the  practice  of  painters;  and  in  pre 
serving  the  lineaments  and  character  of  the  countenance,  to  ren 
der  the  portrait  as  pleasing  as  possible.  It  had  the  effect,  as  I 
afterwards  learned,  to  put  them  in  good  heart:  for,  although  I 
had  not  said  every  thing  which  might  have  been  wished,  it  was 
ascribed  to  a  propensity  I  was  supposed  to  have,  of  looking 
rather  on  the  unfavourable  side  of  things ;  and  as  I,  so  little  san 
guine,  had  ventured  to  say  so  much,  it  was  inferred,  that  I 
might,  with  truth  have  said  a  great  deal  more. 

The  particulars  of  this  pleasing  trip  to  New  York,  have  en 
tirely  escaped  my  memory;  as,  how  we  travelled,  though  I  pre 
sume  it  was  in  a  wagon  for  the  convenience  of  carrying  our 
baggage;  whether  it  was  in  the  forenoon  or  afternoon  ;  whether 
we  left  the  city  on  the  day  we  reached  it,  &c.,  though  as  to  this, 
it  is  more  than  probable,  that  it  was  not  until  the  day  after,  as  I 
well  recollect  breakfasting  with  my  mother  at  the  house  of  Mr. 
Matthews,  the  Mayor,  arid  that  his  daughter,  who  entertained  us, 
was  so  much  to  my  taste,  that,  for  the  moment  I  quite  forgot  the 
politics  of  her  father,  and  might  even  have  swerved,  perhaps, 
from  my  loyalty  to  an  allegiance,  a  thousand  times  sworn  else 
where.  But  it  must  not  be  imagined  from  the  circumstance  of 
this  breakfast,  that  I  had  apostatized  from  my  principles.  I  have, 
fortunately,  an  excuse  for  accepting  civilities  from  the  offspring 
of  an  inveterate,  and  reputedly  persecuting  tory,  which,  I  am 
not  without  hope,  will  obtain  my  pardon  from  the  most  deter 
mined  and  least  compounding  republican  of  the  present  hour. 
A  Miss  Seymour,  a  cousin  of  Miss  Matthews,  had  long  been  de 
sirous  of  getting  to  Philadelphia  to  see  her  father  who  lay  sick 
there;  and  as  it  was  known  to  Mr.  Matthews  that  my  mother 
was  soon  to  go  thither,  he  had  made  himself  acquainted  with. 


MR.  TENCH  COXE.  273 

her,  and  recommended  his  niece  to  her  protection  in  the  medi-  - 
tated  journey.  This  it  was,  that  procured  me  the  honour  of 
breakfasting  with  Miss  Matthews,  with  whom  her  cousin  stayed. 
But  who,  pray,  was  this  sick  Mr.  Seymour?  methinks  I  hear 
some  high-toned,  fastidious  seventy-six  man  exclaim.  He  was, 
you  may  rest  assured,  sir,  no  "  anti-revolutionary  adherent  of 
the  enemy."  He  was  no  less  a  personage  than  Commodore 
Seymour,  who,  at  this  time,  had  the  command  of  the  Delaware 
gun-boats. — Yes,  Commodore  of  the  gun-boats!  Another  pecca 
dillo,  if  haply  they  may  be  so  called,  of  a  similar  complexion,  I 
must  confess  myself  guilty  of;  though,  from  an  exuberance  of 
good  fortune,  not  always  attending  my  imputed  apostacies,  I 
have,  if  I  would  avail  myself  of  it,  an  equally  good  come  off 
here.  To  make  a  profert  then  of  my  offence  with  its  ablution 
along  with  it,  I  undertook  to  bring  out,  and  actually  did  bring 
out  with  me,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Tench  Coxe,  now  in  the  full 
tide  of  republican  orthodoxy,  a  letter  to  a  lady  in  Philadelphia? 
to  be  delivered  by  my  own  hand  to  another  lady  in  that  city; 
which  commission  I  faithfully  executed.  I  cheerfully  did  that 
for  him,  which  shortly  before,  would  have  been  the  greatest 
favour  to  myself: 

Haud  ignarus  mail,  miseris  succurere  disco. 

Having  alluded  to  this  gentleman  before,  and  in  a  manner,  that 
may  not  be  pleasing  to  him,  although  I  have  said  nothing  which 
does  not  arise  from  facts,  of  which  he  will  not  deny  the  correct 
ness,  I  here  sincerely  avow,  that  I  am  much  more  disposed  to  do 
him  a  good  than  evil  office.  Notwithstanding  the  contrasted  vi 
cissitudes  of  our  fortune,  and  that  the  great  eras  of  his  political 
ascension,  have  been  those  of  my  depression,  I  have  not  forgotten 
our  boyish  days,  of  which  he,  not  long  since  put  me  in  mind; 
my  early  acquaintance  in  his  family ;  the  pleasant  hours  I  have 
passed  with  himself  and  his  brother  (nearer  my  own  age)  as  well 
at  his  father's  house  in  town,  as  at  his  seat  on  the  Schuylkill ; 
and  that  his  mother  was  always  spoken  of  by  mine,  as  the  near 
est  friend  of  her  youth.  Such  recollections  are  far  more  grateful 
to  the  heart,  than  the  bitter  collisions  of  interested  manhood,  or 
the  "fury  passions"  of  political  dissension. 

But  not  to  linger  in  New  York  at  a  moment  so  precious,  I 


274  ARRIVAL  AT  THE  AMERICAN  CAMP. 

have  to  state,  that  after  the  signing  of  a  new  parole  by  Miles, 
West  and  myself,  at  the  office  of  Mr.  Loring,  our  little  party  with 
the  addition  of  Miss  Seymour,  embarked  in  a  small  sloop  for 
Elizabethtown-point,  then  held  by  us.  The  officer  commanding 
on  this  occasion,  was  a  son  of  Doctor  Auchmuty,  among  the 
most  distinguished  in  New  York,  for  his  zeal  in  the  royal  cause. 
The  behaviour  of  this  gentleman  was  perfectly  agreeable  to  us ; 
and  we  parted  on  the  most  civil  terms.  It  is  not  impossible, 
though  such  rapid  promotions  are  hardly  to  be  looked  for  in  the 
British  army,  that  he  may  be  the  General  Auchmuty,  who  not 
long  since,  acquitted  himself  so  well  at  Montevideo;  as  he  was 
stated  in  the  newspapers  to  be  a  son  of  the  Doctor.*  The  wea 
ther  being  fine,  but  with  very  little  wind,  our  passage  was  a 
pleasant  one ;  and  in  the  course  of  the  day,  we  had  once  more 
the  happiness  of  treading  our  own  ground.  I  should  in  vain  en 
deavour  to  describe  my  feelings  on  this  occasion;  for  although 
they  were  chastised  by  the  recollection,  that  my  present  liberty 
was  held  on  sufferance,  they  were  yet  light,  joyous  and  tumultu 
ary.  I  had  been  about  eight  months  captive  ;  and  it  was  more 
than  a  year  since  I  had  seen  Philadelphia.  It  must  now  have 
been  from  my  best,  data  for  ascertaining  it,  about  the  middle  of 
July.  Our  army  lay  at  Morristown  ;  and  after  casting  about  for 
the  means  of  being  conveyed  thither,  we,  at  length,  found  them 
in  a  coal-wagon,  little  inferior  to  a  coach  and  six,  in  a  journey, 
which  too  much  crowded  the  mind  with  pleasing  ideas,  to  admit 
of  much  concern  about  the  choice  of  a  vehicle.  When  within  a 
few  miles  of  our  destination,  we  met  the  General,  on  horseback, 
with  three  or  four  attendants.  He  recognised  us,  and  stopping 
a  few  minutes  congratulated  my  mother  on  the  success  of  her 
errand;  and  at  going  on,  informed  us,  that  he  should  return  to 
camp  in  a  few  hours,  where  he  expected  to  see  us.  By  his  ap- 

*  LIEUTENANT-GENERAL  SIR  SAMUEL  AUCHMUTY. — He  was  the  youngest  son  of 
the  Reverend  Dr.  Auchmuty,  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York  ;  was  born 
June  22d,  1758,  arid  received  his  education  at  King's  (now  Columbia)  College. 
He  joined  the  Royal  army  under  Sir  Win.  HOWE,  as  an  ensign  in  the  45th 
regiment,  in  177G.  Mr.  Graydon  in  a  note,  says,  "  He  was,  I  remember,  ra 
ther  a  serious  young  man,  modest  and  unassuming  in  his  manners,  though  I 
should  have  supposed  him  one  or  two  and  twenty,  instead  of  nineteen,  which  the 
date  of  his  birth  made  him  at  the  time  referred  to." — ED. 


GENERAL  WASHINGTON COLONEL  HAMILTON.  275 

pointment,  on  his  return,  Colonel  Miles,  Major  West  and  myself 
waited  upon  him  at  his  marquee  in  the  evening.  In  the  course 
of  conversation,  he  asked  what  we  conceived  to  be  the  objects 
of  General  Howe,  provided  the  question  did  not,  in  our  opinion, 
interfere  with  our  parole.  Colonel  Miles  taking  the  word,  re 
plied,  that  in  his  opinion,  he  meditated  a  co-operation  with  the 
northern  army  by  means  of  the  Hudson.  The  General  heard 
him  out,  and  then  observed,  that  indications  and  probabilities 
both  tended  to  that  conclusion  ;  but,  that  nevertheless,  he  had 
little  doubt,  that  his  object  was  Philadelphia.  I  mention  this,  as 
it  is  stated  by  Mr.  Marshall,  that  he  was  a  good  deal  embarrassed 
on  this  occasion,  and  rather  inclined  to  believe,  that  the  move 
ments  of  General  Howe  would  be  up  the  Hudson.  Whatever 
might  have  happened  afterwards  to  alter  or  unsettle  his  opinion, 
it  was  certainly  at  this  time,  as  I  have  mentioned;  and  he  spoke 
as  if  his  conviction  was  strong.  He  had  unquestionably  good 
intelligence  ;  and  a  person  who  had  communicated  with  him, 
had,  not  long  before,  been  executed  as  a  spy  at  Brunswick. 
This  man,  who  generally  resided  at  New  York,  under  the  dis 
guise,  of  a  zealous  royalist,  had  been  indiscreet  enough  to  unbo 
som  himself  to  Major  Williams,  who,  in  the  spring  of  this  year, 
on  the  prospect  of  an  exchange,  which  however  proved  abortive, 
had  been  summoned  to  that  city.  He  gave  him  much  informa 
tion  as  to  what  was  passing  there  ;  and  among  other  things 
which  regarded  us,  told  him,  that  interest  had  been  made  for  my 
going  out  on  parole,  but  I  was  considered  not  sufficiently  well 
disposed,  (the  fashionable  phrase  for  yielding  whiggism,)  to  be 
entitled  to  the  indulgence.  It  was  but  a  few  weeks  after  this 
interview  with  Williams,  that,  in  attempting  to  induce  two  Bri 
tish  soldiers  to  desert  to  our  army  with  intelligence,  he  was  de 
tected  and  suffered. 

The  day  of  our  arrival  and  the  succeeding  one,  we  spent  at 
Morristown;  and  here,  for  the  first  time,  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
knowing  Colonel  Hamilton.  He  presided  at  the  General's  table, 
where  we  dined  ;  and  in  a  large  company  in  which  there  were 
several  ladies,  among  whom  I  recollect  one  or  two  of  the  Miss 
Livingstons  and  a  Miss  Brown,  he  acquitted  himself  with  an  ease, 
propriety  and  vivacity,  which  gave  me  the  most  favourable  im- 


276  COLONEL  HAMILTON. 

pression  of  his  talents  and  accomplishments — talents,  it  is  true, 
which  did  not  indicate  the  solid  abilities  his  subsequent  career 
has  unfolded,  but  which  announced  a  brilliancy  which  might 
adorn  the  most  polished  circles  of  society,  and  have  fitted  him 
for  the  part  of  an  Algarotti  at  the  court  of  a  Frederick. 

"  Vous,  que  les  graces  et  les  ris 
Formerent  pour  flatter  et  plaire," 

to  borrow  the  words  of  the  king,  in  an  address  to  this  favourite: 
Or  in  reference  to  his  later  conduct  and  matured  capacity,  where 
shall  we  find  one  to  whom  the  language  of  Tibullus  to  Messala, 
would  better  apply  ! 

"Nam  quis  te  majora  gerit  castrisve,  forove?" 

"Who  the  state's  thunder,  better  form'd  to  wield, 
And  shake  alike  the  senate  and  the  field  !"* 


*  SULLIVAN,  in  his  "  Familiar  Letters,"  already  quoted,  says,  "  The  eloquence 
of  HAMILTON  was  persuasive  and  commanding ;  the  more  so  as  he  had  no  guide 
but  the  impulse  of  a  great  and  rich  mind,  he  having  had  little  opportunity  to  be 
trained  at  the  bar,  or  iu  popular  assemblies.  Those  who  could  speak  of  his  man 
ner  from  the  best  opportunities  to  observe  him,  in  public  and  private,  concurred 
in  pronouncing  him  to  be  a  frank,  amiable,  high-minded,  open-hearted  gentleman. 
He  was  capable  of  inspiring  the  most  affectionate  attachment;  but  he  could  make 
those,  whom  he  opposed,  fear  and  hate  him  cordially." 

HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS,  of  Boston,  delivered  there  an  eulogy  upon  HAMILTON, 
and  the  following  is  a  concluding  paragraph  of  his  eloquent  performance:  "The 
universal  sorrow,  manifested  in  every  part  of  the  Union  upon  the  melancholy 
exit  of  this  great  man,  is  an  unequivocal  testimonial  of  his  public  worth.  The 
place  of  his  residence  is  overspread  with  a  gloom  which  bespeaks  the  pressure 
of  a  public  calamity ;  and  the  prejudices  of  party  are  absorbed  in  the  overflowing 
tide  of  national  grief." 

The  man,  thus  honoured  and  lamented,  and  whose  reputation  grows  still 
brighter  with  the  lapse  of  time,  was  one  of  those  towards  whom  MR.  JEFFERSON, 
as  we  learn  from  his  own  "Correspondence,"  cherished  a  degree  of  "envy,  hatred 
and  malice,"  which  it  is  difficult  to  believe  even  party  rage  and  malevolence, 
however  violent  and  bitter,  could  have  prompted  and  sustained.  Yet  this  active, 
energetic  enmity,  could  not  long  operate  injuriously  to  the  character  of  such  a 
man  as  HAMILTON,  while  the  "great  Apostle  of  Democracy,"  in  his  own  carefully 
preserved  and  ostentatiously  published  "  Writings,"  has  greatly  aided  Posterity 
in  finding  for  him  an  appropriate  niche  in  the  temple  of  fame. 

"  In  that  remarkable  chronicle  of  slander  and  second-hand  abuse,  the  Ana 
of  Jefferson,  HAMILTON,"  says  the  New  York  Review,  "  is  assailed  no  less  than 
seventeen  times;  just  one-fourth  of  all  Mr.  Jefferson's  on  dits  are  levelled  against 
the  man  whom  he  felt  to  be,  of  all  others,  his  most  dangerous  competitor  for  the 
highest  honours  of  his  country." — ED. 


COLONEL  TILGHMAN CONDITION  OF  THE  ARMY.  277 

With  Colonel  Tilghman,*  another  of  the  General's  aids,  I  was 
well  acquainted,  as  he  was  a  Philadelphian,  and  had  been  a 
Lieutenant  of  the  light  infantry  company  of  Greens,  already  men 
tioned.  By  him  and  Colonel  Hamilton,  I  was  taken  in  the  even 
ing  to  drink  tea  with  some  of  the  ladies  of  the  village,  where 
were  also  those  with  whom  we  had  dined. 

I  had  been  extremely  anxious  to  see  our  army.  Here  it  was, 
but  I  could  see  nothing  which  deserved  the  name.  I  was  told, 
indeed,  that  it  was  much  weakened  by  detachments  ;  and  I  was 
glad  to  find,  there  was  some  cause  for  the  present  paucity  of  sol 
diers.  I  could  not  doubt,  however,  that  things  were  going  well. 
The  Commander-in-chief  and  all  about  him,  were  in  excellent 
spirits ;  and  as  to  General  Wayne,  whom  I  waited  upon  at  his 
quarters,  he  entertained  the  most  sovereign  contempt  for  the 
enemy.  In  his  confident  way,  he  affirmed,  that  the  two  armies 
had  interchanged  their  original  modes  of  warfare.  That  for  our 
parts,  we  had  thrown  away  the  shovel,  and  the  British  had  taken 
it  up,  as  they  dared  not  face  us  without  the  cover  of  an  intrench- 
ment.  I  made  some  allowance  for  the  fervid  manner  of  the 
General,!  who,  though  unquestionably  as  brave  a  man  as  any  in 

*  Colonel  TENCH  TILGHMAN. — General  WASHINGTON  thus  writes  to  General 
SULLIVAN  in  Congress,  May,  1781:  "This  gentleman  came  out  a  captain  of  one 
of  the  light  infantry  companies  of  Philadelphia,  and  served  in  the  flying  camp  in 

1776.  In  August  of  the  same  year  he  joined  my  family,  and  has  been  in  every 
action  in  which  the   main  army  was  concerned.     He  has  been  a  zealous  servant 
and  slave  to  the  public,  and  a  faithful  assistant  to  me  for  nearly  five  years,  a 
great  part  of  which  time  he  refused  pay.     Honour  and  gratitude   interest  me  in 
his  favour  and  make  me  solicitous  to  obtain  his  commission.     His  modesty  and 
love  of  concord  place  the  date  of  his  expected  commission  at  the  1st  of  April, 

1777,  because  he  would  not  take  rank  of  HAMILTON  and  MEADE,  who  were  de 
clared  Aids  in  order  (which  he  did  not  choose  to  be)  before  that  period,  although 
he  had  joined  my  family  and  done  all  the  duties  of  one,  from  the  1st  of  September 
preceding."     Tilghman  was  despatched  by  WASHINGTON  to  Congress  with  intel 
ligence  of  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis,  and  "ahorse  properly  caparisoned,  and  an 
elegant  sword,  were  given  to  him."     Colonel  Tilghman  died  in  Baltimore  in 
April,  1786,  in  his  43d  year.     His  death  was  deeply  regretted  by  General  WASH 
INGTON,  arid  ROBERT  MORRIS,  in  a  letter  to  the  General,  said:  "You  have  lost  in 
him  a  most  faithful  and  valuable  friend.     He  was  to  me  the  same.     I  esteemed 
him  very,  very  much,  and  I  lamented  his  loss  exceedingly;" — ED. 

t  In  bravery,  in  heroic  achievement,  and  in  devotion  to  the  cause  of  his  coun 
try  in  all  its  phases,  he  was  unsurpassed,  and  his  abilities  as  a  commander  were 

24 


278  GENERAL  WAYNE. 

the  army,  was  nevertheless,  somewhat  addicted  to  the  vaunting 
style  of  Marshal  Villars,  a  man  who,  like  himself,  could  fight  as 
well  as  brag.  By  the  bye,  I  do  not  know  whether  this  talent 
might  not  have  been  of  use  in  our  army:  it  certainly  is,  or  at 
least  is  considered  to  be  so,  in  a  French  one,  since,  of  all  the  gas- 
conaders  in  the  world,  the  Gallic  commanders  must  confessedly 
take  the  pas.  It  had  been  humourously  stated  in  the  English 
prints,  that  upon  a  gentleman,  who  had  been  in  America  and  seen 
our  troops,  being  asked,  what  was  their  uniform,  he  replied: 
"  in  general,  it  is  blue  and  buff',  but  by  this  time  it  must 
be  all  buff'!"  The  period  for  this  unity  of  colour,  however, 
had  not  yet  arrived ;  though  from  the  motley,  shabby  cover 
ing  of  the  men,  it  was  to  be  inferred  that  it  was  rapidly 
approaching.  Even  in  General  Wayne  himself,  there  was 
in  this  particular,  a  considerable  falling  off.  His  quondam 
regimental,  as  Colonel  of  the  4th  battalion,  was,  I  think,  blue 
and  white,  in  which  he  had  been  accustomed  to  appear  with  ex 
emplary  neatness  ;  whereas  he  was  now  dressed  in  character  for 
M'Heath  or  Captain  Gibbet,  in  a  dingy  red  coat,  with  a  black, 
rusty  cravat,  and  tarnished  laced  hat.  In  short,  from  all  I  could 
see,  I  was  by  no  means  warranted  in  supposing  that  our  affairs 
were  in  a  very  prosperous  train,  notwithstanding  the  cheerful 
appearance  at  Head  Quarters  :  but  I  endeavoured  to  suspend  my 
opinion  until  I  should  have  longer  and  better  means  of  forming 
a  conclusion. 

We  hired  a  wagon  at  this  place,  to  carry  us  to  Mr.  Vanhorne's 
at  Bound-brook,  where  my  mother  expected  to  find  her  horse 
and  chair,  agreeably  to  the  arrangement  made  with  Major  Pauli. 
This  was  a  subject  of  much  raillery  on  the  road,  particularly  with 
Colonel  Miles,  who  could  not  persuade  himself  that  a  Hessian 
could  forego  so  fine  a  chance  of  plunder ;  and  he  took  it  for 
granted,  that  the  Major  had  not  only  appropriated  the  equipage 
to  himself,  but  sold  it  long  since,  and  put  the  proceeds  in  his 
pocket.  But,  on  the  contrary,  in  the  strutting  phraseology  of 
Burgoyne,  he  had  been  "  conscious  of  the  honour  of  soldiership," 

of  a  very  high  order.  His  life  is  a  history  of  the  war.  He  was  at  Ticonderoga, 
Brunswick,  JBrandywine,  Germantown,  White  Marsh,  Monmouth,  Stony  Point, 
and  in  several  other  engagements  ; — always  efficient,  and  always  distinguished.- 
He  died  in  December,  17'JG,  in  the  52d  year  of  his  age. — ED. 


COLONEL  BLAND — GENERAL  HENRY  LEE.         279 

and  with  good  faith  performed  what  he  had  promised.  We  had, 
in  fact,  met  the  poor  beast  in  question,  on  the  road  to  Morristown, 
but  quantum  mutatus  ab  illo  !  how  changed  from  the  sleek,  well- 
fed  animal,  that  had,  about  six  weeks  before,  entered  the  town  of 
Brunswick!  A  constant  padding  of  the  hoof  for  this  space  of 
time,  first  on  the  royal  and  then  on  the  rebel  side,  with  such 
casual  supplies  of  forage  as  campaigning  affords,  had  reduced 
him  to  the  continental  standard ;  and  although  it  had  been  sug 
gested  to  my  mother  as  he  passed  with  the  chair,  that  they  might 
be  hers,  she  was  unable  to  recognise  either :  the  chair  she  could 
not  claim,  and  as  to  the  horse,  she  was  sure  he  was  not  hers. 

Whether  there  were  any  arrangements  \vith  Mr.  Vanhorne,  I 
do  not  know ;  but  his  hospitality  ought  certainly  to  have  been 
recompensed,  by  an  unlimited  credit  on  the  public  stores.*  His 
house,  used  as  a  hotel,  seemed  constantly  full.  It  was  at  this 
time  occupied  by  Colonel  Bland, f  of  the  Virginia  cavalry,  and 
the  officers  of  his  corps,  to  whom  we  were  introduced;  and  among 
others,  if  my  memory  does  not  mislead  me,  to  Captain  Lee,  after 
wards  so  distinguished  as  a  partisan,  and  now  known  as  General 
Harry  Lee 4  Notwithstanding  the  number  of  guests  that  were  to 

*  This  Mr.  VANHORNE,  however,  appears  to  have  been  a  suspicious  character, 
if  it  is  of  him  that  General  WASHINGTON  thus  speaks  in  his  letters  to  General 
REED.  In  the  first,  dated  January  12th,  1777,  he  says: — 

"I  wish  you  had  brought  Vanhorne  off  with  you,  for,  from  his  noted  character, 
there  is  no  dependence  to  be  placed  on  his  parole."  In  the  other,  of  19th  January, 
of  the  same  year,  he  sa^s  ;  "  Would  it  not  be  best,  to  order  P.  Vanhorne  to  Bruns 
wick  ?  These  people,  in  my  opinion,  can  do  us  less  injury  there  than  any  where 
else."  He  kept  his  post  notwithstanding,  at  Bound-Brook,  where  he  alternately 
entertained  the  officers  of  both  armies,  being  visited  sometimes  by  the  one,  and 
sometimes  by  the  other. 

1  COLONEL  THEODORIC  BLAND — of  the  first  regiment  of  light  dragoons,  was 
appointed  to  superintend  the  march  of  the  Convention  troops  to  Charlottesville> 
Virginia,  and  was  directed  by  WASHINGTON  to  take  command  there.  He  was  the 
author  of  a  Treatise  on  Military  Tactics,  which  was  approved  arid  strongly  re 
commended  by  the  Commander-in-chief.  General  H.  LEE  speaks  of  him  in  his 
Memoirs,  as  "noble,  sensible,  honourable  and  amiable." — ED. 

t  This  gallant  and  celebrated  officer  was  a  graduate  of  Princeton  College,  and 
during  the  whole  war  was  actively  and  usefully  employed.  He  commenced  his 
brilliant  public  career  as  "  a  Captain  of  one  of  the  six  companies  of  cavalry, 
raised  in  Virginia,  arid  in  1777,  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  BLAND,  he  joined  the 
main  Provincial  army."  By  his  discipline  and  care  of  his  men  and  horses,  he 


280  GENERAL  HENRY  LEE. 

be  provided  for,  there  appeared  no  deficiency  in  accommodation ; 
and  we  supped  and  lodged  well.  As  the  horse  and  chair  were 
not  expected  back  for  a  day  or  two,  Major  West,  who  was  in  no 
hurry,  undertook  to  wait  for  it,  and  bring  it  on  to  Philadelphia ; 
while  the  rest  of  us,  who  had  objects,  more  or  less  attracting  in 
view,  pursued  our  way  the  next  morning.  No  other  incident  on 
the  road  occurred,  interesting  enough  to  have  left  any  trace  in  my 
memory,  except  the  meeting  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Coxe,  at  Nesha- 
miny  Ferry.  Matters  had  been  arranged  for  this  interview  with 
my  mother  on  her  way  to  New  York ;  and  they  now  met  her  in 
consequence  of  a  notice  from  her,  that  she  would  be  there  at  an 
appointed  time.  Their  object  was,  to  learn  what  she  might  know 
of  their  son,  as  well  as  son-in-law,  Mr.  Andrew  Allen.  They 
were  deeply  affected  at  the  dispersed  situation  of  their  family,  and 
feelingly  alive  to  the  unhappy  effects  of  civil  dissension.  The 
old  gentleman,  I  recollect,  blamed  the  step  which  had  been  taken 
by  Mr.  Allen,  and  his  son ;  alleging,  that  they  had  been  precipi- 

early  attracted  the  attention  of  WASHINGTON,  "who,  at  the  battle  of  Germantown, 
selected  him,  with  his  company,  to  attend  as  his  body-guard."  In  consequence 
of  his  cool  and  determined  bravery  in  several  exploits,  which,  for  want  of  room, 
cannot  be  narrated  here,  he  was  promoted  by  Congress  to  the  rank  of  Major, 
with  the  command  of  a  separate  corps  of  cavalry,  consisting  of  three  companies. 
In  1780  he  was  sent  with  his  legion  to  the  army  of  the  South,  under  Gen.  GREENE, 
having  been  previously  raised  to  the  rank  of  Lieutenant-Colonel.  He  served 
with  great  distinction  throughout  the  war,  and  has  left  a  well  written,  manly  and 
authentic  "  History  of  the  War  in  the  Southern  Department  of  the  United  States." 
In  1786  he  was  elected  to  Congress  from  Virginia,  his  native  State.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Convention  of  Virginia  that  ratified  the  present  Federal  Consti 
tution,  of  which  he  was  a  strenuous  advocate.  He  was  three  years  Governor  of 
the  State.  In  1799  he  was  again  chosen  a  member  of  Congress,  and  was  selected, 
while  there,  to  pronounce  a  funeral  eulogium  upon  WASHINGTON.  He  prepared 
the  celebrated  resolutions,  moved  by  the  late  CHIEF  JUSTICE  MARSHALL  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  from  which  General  LEE  was  accidentally  absent  at 
the  time,  expressive  of  the  grief  of  Congress  upon  receiving  intelligence  of  the 
decease  ^WASHINGTON,  the  last  of  which  resolutions  was  as  follows: — 

"  Resolved,  that  a  Committee,  in  conjunction  with  one  from  the  Senate,  be 
appointed  to  consider  on  the  most  suitable  manner  of  paying  honour  to  the 
memory  of  the  MAN,  first  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the  hearts  of  his 
fellow- citizens." 

Before  the  accession  of  Mr.  JEFFERSON,  General  LEE,  like  many  of  the  other 
Fathers  of  the  Revolution,  retired  to  private  life.  He  died  on  the  25th  of  March, 
1818,  in  his  G3d  year.— E^>. 


AUTHOR  ARRIVES  AT  PHILADELPHIA.  281 

tated  into  it  by  Christian  Huck,  who  had  assured  them,  that  mea 
sures  were  in  agitation  for  their  immediate  arrest  and  confine 
ment. 

We  reached  Philadelphia  in  the  evening,  where,  it  will  be 
enough  for  me  to  say,  that  my  fondest  anticipations  were  realized 
in  a  meeting  with  the  object,  which  had  caused  the  deepest  sighs 
of  my  captivity.  Were  I  dealing  in  fiction,  or  speaking  of 
another,  a  more  particular  representation  might  be  required,  of  so 
auspicious  a  winding  up,  of  a  more  than  twelve  months'  absence, 
incessantly  galled  by  sickly  hope  and  feverish  uncertainty.  But, 
in  situations  of  tender  interest,  the  fastidious  delicacy,  or,  as  the 
French  might  call  it,  the  mauvaise  honte  of  English  manners,  for 
bids  a  man  to  place  himself.  It  is  observable,  that  this  highest 
seasoning  of  French  memoir  writing,  is  wholly  omitted  by  Mr. 
Cumberland,  who  must  have  known  the  nation's  taste.  He  gives 
us  to  understand,  indeed,  that  he  was  married ;  and  more  than 
once,  marshals  his  children  before  us ;  but  he  never  ventures  to 
disclose  a  single  circumstance  of  his  love,  or  to  descant  upon 
what  ought  to  be  considered,  as  the  sine  qua  non  of  his  two  con 
ditions  of  a  husband  and  a  father.  Mr.  Gibbon,  it  is  true,  touches 
upon  his  attachment  to  Mademoiselle  Curchod,  afterwards  Madame 
Necker;  but,  evidently  writh  a  mortal  fear  of  being  laughed  at, 
for  only  glancing  at  his  "early  love."  Perhaps  nothing  is  more 
characteristic  of  the  manners  of  the  two  nations,  than  this  very 
circumstance,  which  serves  also  among  others,  to  justify  Sterne, 
in  his  singular  declaration,  that  the  French  are  too  serious.*  An 

*  The  Edinburgh  Review,  in  descanting  on  the  correspondence  of  Baron 
Grimm,  observes,  that  it  chronicles  the  deaths  of  half  the  Author's  acquaintance, 
and  makes  jests  upon  them  all;  and  is  much  more  serious  in  discussing  the 
merits  of  an  opera-singer,  than  in  considering  the  evidence  for  the  being  of  a 
God,  or  the  first  foundations  of  morality.  Grimm,  though  a  German,  was  tho 
roughly  Frenchified  by  his  long  residence  in  France.  He  was  among  Rousseau's 
most  early  acquaintances  on  his  first  going  to  Paris,  and  with  some  others,  was 
once  engaged  with  him  to  traverse  all  Italy  on  foot;  but  the  project,  of  which  the 
parties  were  at  first  highly  enamoured,  came  to  nothing.  The  pedestrian  exploit 
lost  its  charms,  as  the  time  for  undertaking  it  approached. 

The  review  of  the  "  Correspondence,  Litteraire,  Philosophique  et  Critique.  Par 
le  Baron  de  Grimm,  et  par  Diderot,"  is  by  Lord  Jeffrey,  and  is  included  in 
the  Philadelphia  edition  of  Jeffrey's  "  Contributions  to  the  Edinburgh  Review. — 
ED. 

24* 


282  AUTHOR  ARRIVES  AT  PHILADELPHIA. 

amour  in  their  hands,  be  it  their  own  or  another's,  is  always  an 
extremely  grave  affair  ;  and  thence  derives  an  interest,  which  an 
English  writer  in  his  own  case,  would  be  sure  to  spoil,  by  a 
levity  assumed  from  the  apprehension  of  ridicule.  But,  to  what 
ever  cause  this  diversity  of  sentiment  may  be  owing,  it  shows  the 
superior  decorum  of  English  literature,  as  formed  in  the  school 
of  Addison,  Steel,  Johnson,  &c.  to  that  of  the  French,  under  the 
guidance  of  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  Raynal,  &c. ;  the  one,  by  its 
circumspection,  cherishing  religion,  morals,  and  government ;  the 
other,  by  its  licentiousness,  undermining  them  all. 

Having  now  brought  myself  back  to  Philadelphia,  from  whence 
I  marched  the  preceding  summer,  it  naturally  puts  an  end  to  the 
narrative  of  my  campaign  and  captivity  ;  as,  though  yet  a  prisoner, 
I  was  at  home.  What  I  have  farther  to  say,  therefore,  will  have 
less  the  air  of  adventure ;  and  I  shall,  consequently,  be  relieved, 
I  hope,  from  so  minute  an  attention  to  my  own  concerns. 

One  of  the  first  things  which  struck  us,  on  getting  within  our 
own  territory,  was  the  high  price  of  wine  and  other  liquors.  We 
attributed  this  to  their  growing  scarcity,  though  equally  owing, 
probably,  to  the  incipient  depreciation  of  the  paper  currency,  of 
which  we  had  then  no  idea.  We  saw,  to  our  great  surprise,  no 
military  parade  upon  our  journey,  nor  any  indication  of  martial 
vigour  on  the  part  of  the  country.  General  WASHINGTON,  with 
the  little  remnant  of  his  army  at  Morristown,  seemed  left  to  scuffle 
for  liberty,  like  another  Cato  at  Utica.*  Here  and  there,  we  saw 
a  militia  man  with  his  contrasted  coloured  cape  and  facings ;  and 
we  found  besides,  that  Captains,  Majors  and  Colonels  had 

*  The  wisdom  of  WASHINGTON'S  proceedings  was  acknowledged  and  appre- 
ciated  by  those  especially  who  were  merely  spectators  of  the  great  drama  in 
which  he  was  performing  the  most  conspicuous  p:irt.  WALPOLE,  a  cool  and  saga 
cious  observer,  writing  to  HORACE  MAJSN,  in  December,  1776,  says,  "WASHINGTON 
has  retired  with  his  whole  army  to  other  heights  about  five  miles  off,  seeming  to 
intend  to  protract  the  war+  as  tras  always  thought  would  be  their  wisest  way." 
Again  March  5th,  1777,  he  writes :  "The  campaign  in  America  has  lost  a  great 
deal  of  its  florid  complexion,  and  General  WASHINGTON  is  allowed  by  both  sides 
not  to  be  the  worst  General  in  the  field."  And  again  he  writes,  April  3,  1777: 
"WASHINGTON,  THE  DICTATOR,  has  shown  himself  both  a  Fabius  and  a  Camillas. 
His  march  through  our  lines  is  allowed  to  have  been  a  prodigy  of  generalship." 
WALPOLE  here  alludes  to  the  passage  of  the  Delaware,  and  the  surprise  and 
capture  of  the  Hessians  at  Trenton. — ED. 


PROCEEDS  TO  READING.  283 

become  "  good  cheap  "  in  the  land.  But,  unfortunately,  these 
war-functionaries  were  not  found  at  the  head  of  their  men  :  They, 
more  generally,  figured  as  bar-keepers,  condescendingly  serving 
out  small  measures  of  liquor,  to  their  less  dignified  customers. 
Still  were  they  brimfull  of  patriotism,  the  prevailing  feature  of 
which  was,  to  be  no  less  ardent  in  their  pursuit,  than  fervent  in 
their  hatred  of  Tories.* 

During  a  stay  of  a  few  days  in  Philadelphia,  my  mother  and 
myself,  I  recollect,  dined  at  President  Hancock's.  He  had  been 
one  of  the  opposers  of  her  scheme  of  going  into  New  York,  but 
was  sufficiently  a  man  of  the  world,  to  put  on  an  appearance  of 
being  pleased  with  its  success.  Yet,  as  he  was  among  the  most 
conspicuous  on  the  American  side,  and  deeply  staked  in  the  issue 
of  the  contest,  it  is  not  uncharitable  to  suppose,  that  he  was  not 
very  cordially  gratified  by  an  event  which  might  give  to  the 
adverse  cause  any  colour  of  clemency.  But  I  have  no  right  to 
attribute  his  advice  upon  the-  occasion,  to  other  than  the  most 
friendly  motives ;  since  mine,  had  I  been  consulted,  would  have 
been  the  same. 

My  mother,  as  already  mentioned,  having  removed  her  resi 
dence  to  Reading,  thither,  in  company  with  the  lady  so  often 
adverted  to,  whose  family  was  also  established  there,  we  pro 
ceeded  in  high  spirits.  Many  other  Philadelphians  had  recourse 
to  this  town,  as  a  place  of  safety  from  a  sudden  incursion  of  the 
enemy ;  and,  among  a  score  or  more  of  fugitive  families,  were 
those  of  General  Mifflin  and  my  uncle,  as  I  have  called  Mr.  Bid- 
die,  though  only  standing  in  that  relation  by  marriage.  It  was 
also  the  station  assigned  to  a  number  of  prisoners,  both  British 
and  German,  as  well  as  of  the  principal  Scotch  royalists,  that  had 
been  subdued  and  taken  in  North  Carolina.  I  soon  discovered 
that  a  material  change  had  taken  place  during  my  absence  from 
Pennsylvania;  and  that  the  pulses  of  many,  that  at  the  time  of 
my  leaving  it,  had  beaten  high  in  the  cause  of  Whigism  and 
Liberty,  were  considerably  lowered.  Power,  to  use  a  language 
which  had  already  ceased  to  be  orthodox,  and  could,  therefore, 

*  The  generous  exertions  of  the  Philadelphia  troop  of  cavalry,  and  other  por 
tions  of  the  militia,  in  the  preceding  winter,  are  honourable  exceptions  to  the 
general  supinencss. 


284  POLITICAL  FEELINGS. 

only  be  whispered,  had  fallen  into  low  hands:  The  better  sort 
were  disgusted  and  weary  of  the  war.  Congress,  indeed,  had 
given  out  that  they  had  counted  the  cost  of  the  contest ;  but  it 
was  but  too  apparent,  that  very  many  of  their  adherents,  had 
made  false  calculations  on  the  subject,  having  neither  allowed 
enough  for  disasters  in  the  field,  nor  domestic  chagrins,  the  in 
evitable  consequence  of  a  dissolution  of  old  power  and  the  as 
sumption  of  new.*  It  was,  in  fact,  just  beginning  to  be  per 
ceived,  that  the  ardour  of  the  inflamed  multitude  is  not  to  be 
tempered ;  and  that  the  instigators  of  revolutions  are  rarely  those 
who  are  destined  to  conclude  them,  or  profit  by  them.  The  great 
cause  of  schism  among  the  Whigs,  had  been  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  Its  adoption  had,  of  course,  rendered  numbers 
malcontent;  and  thence,  by  a  very  natural  transition,  consigned 
them  to  the  Tory  ranks.  Unfortunately  for  me,  this  was  the  pre 
dicament  in  which  I  found  my  nearest  and  best  friend,  whose  ex 
ample  had,  no  doubt,  contributed  to  the  formation  of  my  political 
opinions,  and  whose  advice,  concurring  with  my  own  sense  of 
duty,  had  placed  me  in  the  army.  I  now  discovered,  that  we  no 
longer  thought  or  felt  alike ;  and  though  no  rupture  took  place, 
some  coldness  ensued,  and  I  have  to  regret  a  few  words  of 
asperity  which  passed  between  us,  on  occasion  of  the  French 
alliance.  But  this  was  but  a  momentary  blast;  as  neither  of  us 
was  infected  with  that  hateful  bigotry,  which  too  generally  actuated 
Whigs  and  Tories,  and  led  to  mutual  persecution,  as  one  or  other 
had  the  ascendency.  As  to  the  WThigs,  the  very  cause  for  which 
they  contended  was  essentially  that  of  freedom,  and  yet  all  the 
freedom  it  granted,  was,  at  the  peril  of  tar  and  feathers,  to  think 
and  act  like  themselves,  the  extent,  indeed,  of  all  toleration  pro 
ceeding  from  the  multitude,  whether  advocating  the  divine  right 
of  a  king ;  the  divine  sovereignty  of  the  people ;  or  of  the  idol 
it  may  be  pleased  to  constitute  its  unerring  plenipotentiary. 
Toleration  is  only  to  be  looked  for  upon  points  in  which  men  are 
indifferent ;  or  where  they  are  duly  checked  and  restrained  by  a 
salutary  authority. 

*  For  some  justifications  of  these  remarks,  which,  I  know,  have  been  thought 
heterodox— see  WILKINSON'S  Memoirs,,  vol.  1,  pp.  201-2 — particularly  a  cited 
letter  from  General  SCIIUYLER  to  General  HEATH,  dated  Saratoga,  July  28th,  1777. 


POLITICAL  FEELINGS.  285 

Mr.  Edward  Biddle^  then  in  a  declining  state  of  health,  and  no 
longer  in  Congress,  apparently  entertained  sentiments  not  accord 
ant  with  the  measures  pursuing ;  and  in  the  fervid  style  of  elocu 
tion,  for  which  he  was  distinguished,  he  often  exclaimed,  that  he 
really  knew  not  what  to  wish  for.  "The  subjugation  of  my 
country,"  he  would  say,  u  I  deprecate  as  a  most  grievous  calamity, 
and  yet  sicken  at  the  idea  of  thirteen,  unconnected,  petty  demo 
cracies  :  if  we  are  to  be  independent,  let  us,  in  the  name  of  GOD, 
at  once  have  an  empire,  and  place  WASHINGTON  at  the  head  of 
it."*  Fortunately  for  our  existence  as  a  nation,  a  great  proportion 
of  those,  whose  early  exertions  tended  to  that  issue,  were  not 
aware  of  the  price  by  which  it  wTas  to  be  acquired  ;  otherwise,  my 
knowledge  of  the  general  feeling  at  this  time,  so  far  as  my  means 
of  information  extended,  obliges  me  to  say,  that  it  would  not  have 
been  achieved.  Not  that  disgust  and  despondence  were  universal 
among  the  leading  and  best  informed  Whigs,  but  an  equal  propor 
tion  of  disaffection  to  independence,  in  the  early  part  of  the  year 
1776,  must  have  defeated  the  enterprize.  Still,  it  may  be  ob 
served,  that  as  Whigism  declined  among  the  higher  classes,  it  in 
creased  in  the  inferior ;  because  they  who  composed  them,  thereby, 
obtained  power  and  consequence.  Uniforms  and  epaulets,  with 
militia  titles  and  paper  money,  making  numbers  of  persons  gen 
tlemen  who  had  never  been  so  before,  kept  up  every  where 
throughout  the  country,  the  spirit  of  opposition  ;  and  if  these  were 
not  real  patriotism,  they  were  very  good  substitutes  for  it.  Could 
there,  in  fact,  be  any  comparison  between  the  condition  of  a  daily 
drudge  in  agricultural  or  mechanic  labour,  and  that  of  a  spruce, 
militia-man,  living  without  work,  and,  at  the  same  time,  having 
plenty  of  continental  dollars  in  his  pocket !  How  could  he  be 
otherwise  than  well  affected  to  such  a  cause ! 

Shortly  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence  by  Congress,  a 
Constitution  had  been  formed  for  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsyl 
vania.  This  was  understood  to  have  been  principally  the  work 

*  I  have  presumed  to  put  in  the  wrong-,  those  who  were  adverse  to  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence  ;  and  the  high  ground  on  which  we  have  since  stood,  fully 
justified  me :  but  present  appearances  seem  again  to  unsettle  the  question,  in  the 
minds  of  those  at  least  who  arc  heterodox  enough  to  doubt  the  eligibility  of  a 
dependence  on  France. 


286  DR.  FRANKLIN. 

of  Mr.  George  Bryan,  in  conjunction  with  a  Mr.  Canon,  a  school 
master  ;  and  it  was  severely  reprobated  by  those,  who  thought 
checks  and  balances  necessary  to  a  legitimate  distribution  of  the 
powers  of  government.  Doctor  Franklin  was  also  implicated  in 
the  production ;  and  either  his  participation  in  it,  or  approbation 
of  it,  was  roundly  asserted  by  its  fautors.  The  Doctor,  perhaps  a 
sceptic  in  relation  to  forms  of  goverment,  and  ever  cautious  of 
committing  himself,  had  thrown  out  an  equivoque  about  a  wagon, 
with  horses,  drawing  in  opposite  directions ;  as,  upon  the  adoption 
of  the  federal  constitution  he  told  a  pleasant  story  of  a  self-com 
placent  French  lady  who  always  found  herself  in  the  right.  But 
whether  he  meant  by  his  rustic  allusion,  to  show  his  approbation 
of  checks  or  otherwise,  is  an  enigma  that  has  never  been  solved ; 
nor  is  it  worth  the  trouble  of  solution.  The  constitutionalists, 
however,  claimed  him  ;  and  whether  he  thought  with  them  or  not, 
he  was  too  prudent  to  disoblige  them.  It  is  rather  probable  the  phi 
losopher  was  of  opinion,  that  the  ferment  of  the  revolution  should 
be  left  to  work  itself  off;  that  the  effect  could  not  be  produced 
by  the  exhibition  of  paper  sedatives  ;  and  that,  therefore,  the  form 
of  a  constitution  was  scarcely  worth  quarrelling  about.  His  ob 
servations  embraced  moral,  no  less  than  natural  subjects :  and  as 
he  had  discovered  that  oil  would  smooth  the  ruffled  surface  of  the 
sea,  so  had  he  found  it  most  effectual  in  assuaging  the  troubled 
minds  of  his  fellow  men.  Hence,  his  demeanour  to  both  parties 
was  so  truly  oily  and  accommodating,  that  it  always  remained 
doubtful  to  which  he  really  belonged  ;  and  while  president  of  the 
Executive  Council,  to  which  office  he  had  been  elected  on  his  re 
turn  from  France,  he  sedulously  avoided  voting  on  questions, 
which  partook  of  the  spirit  of  party.  No  man  had  scanned  the 
world  more  critically  than  the  Doctor ;  few  have  profited  more  by 
a  knowledge  of  it,  or  managed  it  more  to  their  own  advantage. 
Old,  and  without  an  object  to  intrigue  for,  he  seemed  wholly  de 
voted  to  his  ease  and  amusement ;  and  I  have  been  told  by  a 
gentleman  who  acted  with  him  as  Vice-President,  that  he  not  only 
devolved  upon  him  the  whole  business  of  the  department,  but 
even  declined  the  trouble  of  thinking.  As  to  the  Constitution, 
whose  provisions  it  was  sometimes  necessary  to  consider,  it  did 
not  appear  to  him,  that  he  had  ever  read  it ;  or  if  he  had,  that  he 


DR.  FRANKLIN MR.  BRYAN.  287 

deemed  it  worthy  of  remembering.  In  short,  as  to  the  political 
concerns  of  the  State,  he  was  apathy  itself;  and  like  King  Lear  it 
was  obviously  his  "fast  intent,  to  shake  all  cares  and  business 
from  his  age."* 

With  respect  to  Mr.  Bryan,  so  conspicuous  at  this  era  in  the 
home  department,  he  was  one  of  those,  whose  memory  treasures 
up  small  things,  with  even  more  care  than  great  ones.  He  was 
said  to  be  a  very  diligent  reader,  and  was  certainly  a  never  weary 
monotonous  talker,  who,  in  the  discourses  he  held,  seldom  failed 
to  give  evidence  of  an  acquaintance  with  the  most  minute,  recon 
dite,  and  out  of  the  way  facts ;  insomuch,  that  a  bet  was  once 
offered,  that  he  could  name  the  town-cryer  of  Bergen-op-Zoom.f 
As  Ireland  had  given  him  birth,  he  was  probably  like  the  bulk  of  his 
emigrating  countrymen,  in  the  antipodes  at  all  points,  to  whatever 
was  English  ;  and  a  staunch  patriot,  of  course.  It  was,  moreover, 
his  passion  or  his  policy,  to  identify  himself  with  the  people,  in 
opposition  to  those,  who  were  termed  the  well  born,  a  designation 
conceived  in  the  genuine  spirit  of  democracy,  and  which,  as  it 


*  DR.  FRANKLIN  was  chosen  President  of  the  Convention  to  form  a  Constitution 
for  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  and  while  a  member  of  this  Convention,  he  was, 
also,  a  member  of  Congress  where  important  duties  required  his  occasional  attend 
ance.  "  He  is  reported,"  says  Sparks,  "  to  have  been  the  author  of  the  most  re- 
rnarkable  feature  in  this  Constitution,  that  is,  a  single  Legislative  Assembly, 
instead  of  two  branches,  which  other  Statesmen  have  considered  preferable,  and 
which  have  since  been  adopted  by  all  the  States  of  the  Union,  as  well  as  in  other 
countries  where  the  experiment  of  popular  forms  has  been  tried.  He  disapproved 
of  the  distinctions  of  rank  incident  to  two  Assemblies,  one  being  called  the  Upper 
and  the  other  the  Lower  House,  as  having  an  aristocratical  tendency,  unfavoura 
ble  to  the  liberty  and  equality,  which  are  the  essence  of  republican  institutions." 
These  distinctions,  borrowed,  as  are  too  many  other  opinions  and  practices,  from 
England,  however  significant  and  expressive  there,  are  utterly  meaningless  here, 
yet  arc  obstinately  persevered  in.  It  is  time  that  this  absurd  imitation  of  Lords 
and  Commons  should  be  discontinued,  and  the  common-sense  of  the  country  is 
appealed  to  in  this  behalf.  At  the  period  of  the  adoption  of  this  Constitution, 
Franklin  was  in  his  71st  year;  but  he  was,  nevertheless,  according  to  Sparks, 
actively  attentive  to  his  two-fold  duties,  the  assertion  of  our  author's  informant,  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding. — ED. 

t  This  place  was  probably  suggested  to  the  mind  of  the  bettor  from  the  circum 
stance  of  its  having  been  taken  in  the  year  1747,  by  Marshal  Count  LOVVE.NDAHL 
though  deemed  impregnable,  and  being,  on  that  account,  a  common  theme  in 
conversation  and  newspapers. 


288  MR.  BRYAN MR.  CANON. 

may  be  supposed,  did  "  yeoman's  service "  to  her  cause,  now 
dispensing  with  its  use  from  a  just  deference  to  its  well  bom  ad 
vocates  from  Virginia  and  her  dependencies.  In  other  respects 
Mr.  Bryan  was  well  enough :  let  us  say,  a  well  meaning  man,  and 
even  one,  who,  in  the  main,  felt  he  was  acting  the  patriot :  for 
this  part,  it  is  well  known,  is  played  in  very  different  styles. 
Should  any  reader  require  a  proof  of  this,  I  might  refer  him  to  the 
modes  of  WASHINGTON  and  Jefferson.  Some  only  see  danger, 
bless  their  optics !  on  the  side  of  aristocracy ;  and,  therefore,  rivet 
themselves  with  all  their  might,  in  an  anti-patrician  spirit  of  per- 
verseness  to  every  thing  candid,  or  noble,  or  honourable.  Nothing 
is  republican  with  them,  but  as  it  is  crawling,  and  mean,  and  can 
died  over  with  a  fulsome  and  hypocritical  love  for  the  people.  I 
do  not  say  that  Mr.  Bryan  was  actuated  by  such  motives,  but 
merely,  that  his  patriotism  was  of  the  humble  character  they  are 
calculated  to  inspire.  Of  his  colleague  Mr.  Canon,  it  may  not  be 
uncharitable  to  presume,  that  having  the  little  knowledge  of  man, 
and  scholastic  predilection  for  the  antique  in  liberty,  which  gene 
rally  falls  to  the  lot  of  a  pedagogue,  he  acted  accordingly.*  But« 
death  quickly  snatched  him  away ;  ostendent  terris  hunc  tantum 
fata.  These  constituted  the  duumvirate,  which  had  the  credit  of 
framing  the  Constitution  and  thence  laying,  in  Pennsylvania,  the 
corner  stone  of  that  edifice,  which,  however  retarded  in  its  pro 
gress  by  aristocratical  interferences,  towers,  like  another  Babel,  to 
the  skies,  and  will  continue  to  tower,  until  finally  arrested  and 
dilapidated  by  an  irremediable  confusion  of  tongues :  for  anarchy 
ever  closes  the  career  of  democracy. 

*  As  to  myself,  who  always  find  it  impossible  to  separate  from  my  idea  of  a 
good  government,  somewhat  of  ignoble  fireside  comfort  and  tranquillity,  I  must 
say,  that  I  have  but  a  poor  opinion  of  old  Roman  felicity,  notwithstanding  the  im 
mense  amor.patria  that  attended  it. 


PHILADELPHIA  THREATENED. 


289 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Philadelphia  Threatened.— Washington  Marches  to  meet  the  Enemy. — Review 
of  the  Army. — Action  at  Brandyvvine. — Reflections  on  National  Strength. — 
Measures  of  Washington.— Character  of  his  Operations.— Defeat  of  Burgoyne. — 
Society  at  Reading. — Generals  Mifflin,  Gates,  Conway,  Lee. — Captain  Speke. — 
Prisoners. — British  Officers  on  Parole. — Author  Exchanged. — Married. — Re 
flections. — Occurrence  of  the  War. — Charles  Thomson. 

GENERAL  Howe  had  remained  inactive  during  the  summer, 
and  it  was  not  until  the  latter  part  of  August,  that  it  became 
manifest  that  Philadelphia  was  his  object.  This  rendered  it  ex 
pedient  in  the  opinion  of  the  active  Whigs  of  that  city,  to  put  out 
of  the  way  of  mischief,  the  most  influential  and  zealous  of  the 
disaffected ;  several  of  whom  were  accordingly,  on  authority  of 
Congress,  apprehended,  and  deported  to  the  western  parts  of 
Virginia.  On  their  way  thither,  they  passed  through  Reading; 
and  it  being  proposed  by  some  of  their  old  fellow  citizens  there 
resident,  to  show  them  some  attention  in  their  misfortune,  the  pro 
position  was  generally  approved,  and  I  was  among  the  number 
of  those  who  called  on  them,  at  the  inn  at  which  they  stopped. 
Here,  we  found  some  of  the  principal  and  most  respectable 
Quakers,  Mr.  James  Pemberton,  Mr.  Myers  Fisher,  and  several 
others,  whom  I  do  not,  with  certainty,  recollect.  Mr.  Fisher 
was  the  only  one  of  this  society,  with  whom  I  was  personally- 
acquainted  ;  and  he,  I  remember,  took  occasion  significantly  to 
observe,  that  "  I  did  not  look  as  if  I  had  been  starved  by  those 
sad  people  the  British."  But  J  found  among  them  another  ac 
quaintance  of  a  wholly  different  order.  This  was  no  other  than 
my  old  friend  Pike,  the  fencing  master,  who,  although  he  had 
dissembled  so  well  at  the  outset  of  the  business,  as  to  render  it. 
dubious  whether  he  was  for  or  against  us,  had,  in  the  sequel  it 
25 


290  WASHINGTON  MARCHES  TO  MEET  THE  ENEMY. 

seems,  evinced  himself  a  true-hearted  Briton,  to  which  circum 
stance,  he  owed  the  honour  of  his  being  in  his  present  very  good 
company,  as  he  termed  it.  The  red  coat  and  laced  hat  of  Pike, 
were,  to  be  sure,  very  strikingly  in  contrast  with  the  flat  brims 
and  plain  drab-coloured  garments  of  the  rest  of  the  assemblage: 
nevertheless,  from  an  internal  similarity,  this  seemingly  discord 
ant  ingredient  incorporated  perfectly  well  with  the  mass;  and 
friend  Pike,  as  he  was  called,  officiating  in  the  capacity  of  a 
major  domo  or  caterer  at  the  inns  they  put  up  at,  was  a  person, 
I  found,  of  no  small  consideration  with  his  party.  The  prisoners 
were  not  much  dejected,  probably  looking  upon  themselves  as 
martyrs  to  the  cause  of  their  country ;  and,  in  fact,  though  ap 
parently  well  pleased  with  the  civility  we  showed  them,  their 
manner  rather  indicated,  that  they  considered  us,  as  more  ob 
jects  of  pity  than  themselves.  How  much  is  it  to  be  lamented, 
that  the  public  good  should  not  always  be  so  manifest  as  not  to 
be  mistaken  !  If  this  were  the  case,  how  many  of  the  fantastic 
tricks  we  play  off  against  each  other,  in  its  name,  might  be 
spared  !  But  then,  we  should  no  longer  be  the  self-important, 
"forked-animals,"  "the  quintescence  of  dust,"  called  man. 

Having  drawn  together  his  forces,  General  WASHINGTON 
marched  to  meet  the  enemy,  who,  from  the  head  of  Elk,  was 
directing  his  course  to  Philadelphia.  As  it  had  been  given  out 
by  the  disaffected,  that  we  were  much  weaker  than  in  truth  we 
were,  the  General  thought  it  best  to  show  both  Whigs  and  Tories 
the  real  strength  he  possessed ;  and  in  this  view,  took  his  route 
through  the  city,  the  bellorum  maxima  merces,  or  at  least,  the 
great  object  of  the  campaign,  and  the  point,  which  if  gained, 
would,  in  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Galloway,  be  decisive  of  the  con 
test.  I  happened  to  be  there  at  the  time,  and  from  the  coffee 
house  corner,  saw  our  army  with  the  Commander-in-chief  at  its 
head,  pass  down  Front  street.  The  sight  was  highly  interesting  to 
persons  of  all  descriptions;  and  among  the  many  who,  perhaps, 
equally  disclaimed  the  epithet  of  Whig  or  of  Tory,  Mr.  Chew, 
from  an  upper  window  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Turner,  appeared  a 
very  anxious  spectator.  By  the  bye,  it  might  savour  of  bigotry, 
to  impute  guilt  to  this  want  of  decision.  In  civil  commotions, 
there  is  generally  so  much  to  disapprove  on  both  sides,  and  the 


REVIEW  OF  THE  ARMY.  291 

issue  is  so  little  answerable  to  the  designs  of  the  well-meaning 
men  embarked  in  them,  that  neutrality,  if  it  could  be  maintained, 
might  often  be  the  most  eligible  part.  Atticus  was  perhaps  as 
good,  and  probably  a  wiser  man  than  either  Cicero,  or  Pompey, 
or  CaBsar.  There  are  certainly  times  in  which  inaction  becomes 
virtue,  notwithstanding  that  active  ardour  may  be  more  conge 
nial  to  upright  intention  ;  and  that  it  is  in  the  glowing  tempera 
ment  of  a  Cato,  disdaining  that  "  his  house  should  stand  secure 
and  flourish  in  a  civil  war,"  that  the  noblest  feelings  of  an  honest 
heart  are  to  be  looked  for.  And  yet,  this  very  Cato,  under  the 
guidance  of  the  same  poet,  who  puts  this  heroic  sentiment  into 
his  mouth,  is  made  to  counsel  his  son  to  "live  retired,  and  to 
content  himself  with  being  obscurely  good." 

The  impression  made  by  this  review  of  the  American  army,  it 
is  to  be  presumed,  was  rather  favourable  than  otherwise  from  the 
propensity  of  persons  unaccustomed  to  the  sight  of  large  bodies 
of  men,  to  augment  them.  But  it  was  very  disproportioned  to 
the  zeal  for  liberty,  which  had  been  manifested  the  year  before. 
It  amounted  to  but  about  eight  or  nine  thousand  men,  according 
to  Chief  Justice  Marshall ;  but  these,  though  indifferently  dressed, 
held  well  burnished  arms,  and  carried  them  like  soldiers,  and 
looked,  in  short,  as  if  they  might  have  faced  an  equal  number 
with  a  reasonable  prospect  of  success. 

The  action  which  ensued  at  Brandywine,  on  the  eleventh  of 
September,  is  an  instance,  among  many  others  furnished  by  his 
tory,  both  of  the  temptation  to  dispute  the  passage  of  a  river  by 
fronting  the  enemy  on  the  opposite  side,  and  of  the  inefficiency  of 
such  attempts.  The  difficulty  and  ineligibility  of  these  under 
takings,  are  noticed  by  most  of  the  writers  on  the  art  of  war,  and 
particularly  by  the  Marquis  De  Feuquiere.*  To  a  person  of  any 


*  He  says :  "  It  is  impossible  to  guard  the  shores  of  a  river  when  the  ground 
to  be  guarded  is  of  a  great  extent,  because  the  assailant,  pointing  his  efforts  to 
several  places,  for  the  purpose  of  separating  the  forces  of  his  adversary,  and  to 
draw  his  attention  to  spots  very  distant  from  each  other,  at  length  determining 
to  make  his  effort  at  the  point  where  he  finds  the  least  ability  to  resist,  always 
prevails  over  the  labours  and  vigilance  of  his  enemy  ;  more  especially  when  he 
employs  the  night  for  the  execution  of  his  enterprize,  that  being  most  favourable 
for  concealing  the  place  of  his  principal  effort." 


292  BRANDYWINE. 

military  experience,  who  reflects  how  easy  it  must  be,  to  distract 
the  opposing  army  by  fallacious  demonstrations,  in  a  situation  at 
once  concealed  from  observation,  and  exempted  from  the  peril 
which  results  from  movements  in  the  face  of  an  adversary,  in  a 
state  of  profit  by  them,  the  little  chance  of  succeeding  in  the 
effort,  on  a  merely  defensive  plan,  must  be  apparent.  Where, 
indeed,  the  defending  General  shall  permit  himself  to  become  the 
assailant,  if  occasion  should  offer,  he,  in  some  degree,  balances 
advantages;  and  the  conception  of  General  WASHINGTON,  as 
mentioned  by  Judge  Marshall,  of  crossing  at  the  lower  ford  to 
attack  the  enemy's  right  under  Knyphausen,  was  masterly ;  and 
might,  if  rapidly  put  in  execution,  have  handsomely  turned  the 
tables.  It  can  hardly  be  doubted,  however,  that  a  position  on 
the  enemy's  flank  to  the  westward,  would  have  been  more  eligible 
than  that  taken  in  front;  and  that  the  means  of  annoying  and 
possibly  crippling  him  on  his  march,  which  was  all  that  could 
reasonably  be  looked  for  from  an  army  so  inferior  as  ours,  might 
have  offered  at  this  river  or  at  Schuylkill.  This  was  probably,  at 
one  time  contemplated,  under  the  recommendation,  as  it  was  said, 
of  General  Greene.  But  the  public  clamour  demanded  that  a 
battle  should  be  risked  for  the  city ;  and  I  well  remember,  that  it 
was  given  out  at  Reading,  on  the  suggestion  of  General  Mifflin, 
that  Greene,  of  whom  he  was  no  friend,  was  jealous  of  Southern 
influence,  and,  therefore,  indifferent  to  the  fate  of  Philadelphia. 
But  if  Greene  really  advised  the  measure  attributed  to  him,  thereby 
securing  the  open  country  to  our  army  in  case  of  disaster,  in  pre 
ference  to  the  plan  adopted,  and  which,  in  addition  to  its  other 
faults,  tended  to  place  us  in  the  nook  formed  by  the  course  of  the 
Delaware,  I  cannot  but  say,  that,  whatever  were  his  motives,  and 
we  have  no  ground  to  presume  them  bad,  he  was  right.  Yet,  if 
Congress  required  that  the  enemy  should  be  fought,  and  we  have 
good  authority  that  they  did  require  it,  the  opportunity  of  bringing 
him  to  action,  in  any  other  mode  than  that  of  placing  ourselves 
directly  in  his  way,  might  have  been  lost.* 

*  "The  expediency  of  fighting  this  battle,"  says  SPARKS,  in  his  Life  of  WASH- 
I.NGTON,  "with  a  force  so  mucli  inferior,  and  under  many  disadvantages,  has  been 
questioned  by  foreign  writers.  If  the  subject  be  viewed  in  a  military  light  only, 
there  may,  perhaps,  be  just  grounds  for  criticism.  But  it  should  be  differently 


REFLECTIONS  ON  NATIONAL  STRENGTH.  293 

But  why  so  much  caution,  it  may  be  asked,  against  a  foe  in 
the  very  heart  of  the  country?  Why  not  rather  turn  out  en  masse, 
surround,  and  make  a  breakfast  of  Mr.  Howe  and  his  mercena 
ries  ?  Could  not  a  population  of  two  millions  of  souls,  have  fur 
nished  fighting  Whigs  enough  for  the  purpose  ?  WThere  were 
the  multitudes  which  used  to  appear  in  arms,  in  the  commons 
of  Philadelphia?  Where  the  legions  of  New-England  men  that 
hemmed  in  Gage  at  Boston?  Where,  in  short,  the  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  men  in  arms  throughout  the  continent,  spoken  of 
by  General  Lee*  and  others,  at  the  beginning  of  the  contest? 
Where  were  the  Pennsylvania  riflemen,  those  formidable,  un 
erring  marksmen,  each  of  whom,  could  venture  to  put  a  ball  in 
a  target,  held  by  his  brother?  How  came  it,  that  that  excellent 
jest  of  a  British  dragoon  pursuing  one  of  them  round  a  tree,  was 
not  exemplified  on  this  occasion?  These  things  promised  well; 
they  wrere  flattering  in  the  extreme,  and  admirably  calculated  to 
buoy  us  up  in  a  confidence  of  the  martial  superiority  of  freemen 
to  slaves.  Yet,  on  the  day  of  trial,  from  whatever  cause  it  pro 
ceeded,  the  fate  of  the  country  and  its  liberties,  was  always 
committed  to  a  handful  of  mercenaries,  the  very  things,  which 
were  the  eternal  theme  of  our  scorn  and  derision.  The  fact 
must  either  be,  that  the  effective  strength  of  a  nation  does,  after 
all,  reside  in  regular,  disciplined  forces,  or  that  appearances 
were  lamentably  deceitful;  that  all  the  patriotic  ardour  we  had 
at  first  displayed,  had  already  evaporated  ;  and  that  the  gallant 
affair  of  Bunker's  hill,  and  others,  were  but  the  effects  of  mo- 


regardcd.  General  WASHINGTON  knew  the  expectation  of  the  country  and  of 
Congress;  and  he  was  persuaded,  that  a  defeat  would  be  less  injurious  in  its 
effects  on  the  public  mind,  than  the  permitting  of  the  enemy  to  march  to  Phila 
delphia  without  opposition.  He  doubtless  hoped  to  make  a  better  resistance; 
which  he  would  have  done,  if  he  had  not  been  deceived  by  contradictory  intelli 
gence  in  the  time  of  battle,  against  which  no  foresight  could  guard.  Although 
some  of  his  troops  behaved  ill,  yet  others,  and  the  larger  part,  fought  with  signal 
bravery,  and  inspired  him  and  themselves  with  a  confidence,  which  could  have 
been  produced  only  by  the  trial."  See  Appendix  K. — ED. 

*  Not  less  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  gentlemen,  yeomen  and  farmers 
are  in  arms,  determined  to  preserve  their  liberties  or  perish. — Letter  from  Gene 
ral  Lee  to  General  Burgoyne. 

*25 


294  REFLECTIONS  ON  NATIONAL  STRENGTH. 

mentary  excitement.  America  does  not  seem  to  be  a  soil  for 
enthusiasm ;  and  I  am  not  at  all  disposed  to  dispute  the  assertion 
contained  in  a  letter  of  General  Du  Portail,  in  the  time  of  the 
war,  that  there  was  more  of  it  in  a  single  coffee-house  in  Paris, 
than  on  our  whole  continent  put  together.  From  these  facts, 
and  facts  they  assuredly  are,  let  our  theoretical  men  calculate 
the  probable  result  of  a  formidable  invasion  of  our  country  in  our 
present  state  of  preparation ;  and,  if  in  the  heroic  epoch  alluded 
to,  when  there  had  been  really  a  promise  of  great  things,  so  little 
was  done,  how  much  less,  is  rationally  to  be  expected  from  the 
empty  vapouring  of  demagogue  valour.  Would  it  have  been 
credited  in  the  year  1775,  that  a  British  army  of  eighteen  thou 
sand  men  could  have  marched  in  perfect  security  from  the 
Chesapeake  to  Philadelphia  ?  that  a  much  smaller  force  could 
have  penetrated  through  the  Jerseys  to  the  Delaware  ?  and  that 
mere  partizan-bodies,  could  have  traversed  the  southern  states 
in  utter  contempt  of  the  long  knife  of  Virginia!  All  these  things 
were  done;  and  yet  our  babbling  statesmen  will  talk,  "Ye 
Gods!  how  they  will  talk,"  of  the  irresistable  prowess  of  a 
nation  of  freemen  !  From  the  perseverance  of  Spain,  when  com 
pared  with,  the  short-lived  exertions  of  Austria  and  Prussia, 
sorae  argue  the  superiority  of  a  determined  people  to  regular 
armies.  But  it  is  not  certainly  like  Spain,  that  we  would  wish 
to  have  our  country  defended  to  be  first  over-run  and  destroyed! 
Neither  can  the  glory  we  aspire  to,  be  merely  that  of  the  boxer, 
who  bears  a  great  deal  of  beating,  and  solely  depends  on  out- 
winding  his  adversary.  I  have  lately  seen  sneers  at  what  are 
called  technical  armies  ;  but  what  are  we  to  call  those  with  which 
Napoleon  has  achieved  his  victories  and  attained  his  present 
fearful  ascendancy!  We  can  hardly  say,  they  are  not  technical, 
because,  in  part,  composed  of  conscripts;  and,  if  by  the  term, 
is  meant  disciplined,  who  will  deny  them  that  qualification  ? 

Previously  to  Sir  William  Howe's  getting  possession  of  Phila 
delphia,  measures  were  taken  by  General  WASHINGTON  to  give 
him  battle  a  second  time.  The  two  armies  were  on  the  point  of 
engaging,  and  the  encounter  was  only  prevented  by  a  heavy  fall 
of  rain.  The  weather  continued  wet  for  a  day  or  two  ;  and  by 


MEASURES  OF  GENERAL  WASHINGTON.          295 

damaging  our  ammunition,  rendered  it  inexpedient  to  seek  the 
enemy.*  While  our  army  had  been  preparing  for  action,!  have 
been  informed  by  several  discerning  officers,  that  the  General 
discovered  unusual  impetuosity  ;  and  that  as  he  rode  along  the 
line  exhorting  his  men  to  do  their  duty,  his  manner  evinced  an 
extreme  impatience  of  ill-fortune,  and  a  determination  to  retrieve 
it,  or  perish  in  the  attempt. 

Although  defeat  had  been  the  consequence  of  his  unequal 
conflicts  with  the  foe,  and  his  country  seemed  lost  to  the  gene 
rous  ardour  which  had  once  inspired  it,  his  manly  mind  was  not 
subdued.  Of  this  he  gave  an  illustrious  instance  in  his  assault 
of  the  post  at  Germantown.  That  the  British  army  was  not  de 
stroyed  on  this  occasion,  and  Philadelphia  recovered,  has  been 
represented  by  certain  malcontents,  as  a  shameful  dereliction  of 
a  victory  already  gained;  and  General  C.  Lee,  sneeringly  de 
nominates  it  a  stroke  of  the  bathos.  But  what  would  he  that  we 
should  have  done  ?  He  would  hardly  have  had  us  press  on 
hap-hazard,  without  redressing  the  disorder  which  had  taken 
place  in  our  line  ;  a  disorder  which  might  have  ensued,  had 
even  General  Lee  himself  commanded.  Besides,  the  step  would 

*  "After  allowing1  his  men  one  day  for  rest  and  refreshment,  WASHINGTON  re- 
turned  across  the  Schuylkill,  and  took  the  Lancaster  road,  leading  to  the  left  of 
the  British  army,  fully  determined  to  offer  battle.  This  bold  step,  taken  before 
the  enemy  had  left  the  field  of  action  at  the  Brandywine,  was  a  proof  that  the 
late  repulse  had  in  no  degree  unsettled  his  own  resolution,  or  damped  the  ardour 
of  his  troops.  The  two  armies  met  twenty. three  miles  from  Philadelphia,  and  an 
engagement  was  actually  begun  between  the  advanced  parties,  when  a  heavy 
rain  came  on  and  rendered  both  armies  totally  unfit  to  pursue  the  contest.  WASH 
INGTON  retired  to  the  Yellow  Springs,  but  was  not  followed  by  the  British;  and 
he  finally  passed  over  the  Schuylkill  at  Parker's  Ford." 

WASHINGTON  gives  the  following  account  of  his  movements  on  this  occasion  : — 
"When  I  last  re-crossed  the  Schuylkill,  it  was  with  a  firm  intent  of  giving  the 
enemy  battle  wherever  I  should  meet  them;  and  accordingly  I  advanced  as  far 
as  the  Warren  Tavern  upon  the  Lancaster  road,  near  which  place  the  two  armies 
were  upon  the  point  of  coming  to  a  general  engagement,  but  were  prevented  by 
a  most  violent  flood  of  rain,  which  continued  alF  the  day  and  following  night. 
When  it  held  up,  we  had  the  mortification  to  find  our  ammunition,  which  had 
been  completed  to  forty  rounds  a  man,  was  entirely  ruined;  and  in  that  situation 
we  had  nothing  left  for  it,  but  to  find  out  a  strong  piece  of  ground,  which  we 
could  easily  maintain,  till  we  could  get  the  arms  put  in  order,  and  a  recruit  of  anx- 
munition." — Sparks'  Life  of  Washington. — ED. 


296  CHARACTER  OF  HIS  OPERATIONS. 

have  been  by  no  means  congenial  with  his  own  conduct  at 
Monraouth;  which  was  sufficiently  circumspect  and  respectful 
of  an  enemy,  he  here  seems  to  consider  as  nothing.*  But  the 
reputation  of  a  commander  ought  not  to  depend  upon  a  sarcasm  ; 
and  in  order  to  have  shown,  wherein  General  WASHINGTON'S 
conduct  had  been  defective,  Mr.  Lee  should  have  fairly  set  be 
fore  us,  what  Duke  Ferdinand,  whom  he  is  pleased  to  bring  into 
contrast,  would  have  done.  Possibly,  the  Duke  might  have 
duly  respected  the  British  grenadiers,  and  made  comparisons  not 
altogether  animating,  between  the  respective  numbers,  equip 
ments  and  discipline,  of  his  own  army,  and  that  of  his  adversary. 
But  this,  as  a  prudent  General,  he  would,  doubtless,  have  kept 
to  himself;  since  to  proclaim  the  bravery  of  an  enemy,  to  our 
own  men,  on  the  field  of  action,  is  at  best,  but  a  doubtful  mode 
of  encouraging  them.  It  would,  however,  be  no  just  disparage 
ment  of  General  WASHINGTON,  to  admit  his  inferiority  to  Prince 
Ferdinand,  in  matters  wherein  the  desultory  Indian  warfare,  had 
furnished  no  experience.  We  had  no  right  to  count  upon  him 
as  consummate  in  the  science  of  tactics;  or  to  hold  him  fully 
competent  to  the  nice  arrangements  required  in  the  movements 
of  an  army,  should  it  even  be  disciplined.  Indeed,  it  was  ob 
servable,  and  confirmed  by  every  instance  which  came  under 
my  notice,  that  little  benefit,  with  respect  to  the  discipline  of 
parade,  so  essential  to  the  effect  of  operations  on  the  large  scale, 
was  derived  from  any  of  the  gentlemen  who  had  been  in  the 
provincial  service.  The  fortitude  which  is  acquired  from  a- 
familiarity  with  the  perils  and  privations  of  war,  was  conspicuous 
in  many;  but  being  too  far  advanced  in  life,  readily  to  acquire 
new  habits,  they  were  far  from  excelling  in  the  business  of 
manoeuvring,  or  in  an  aptitude  of  imparting  to  their  men  the  air 


*  A  partial  advantage  over  the  enemy,  was,  probably,,  all  that  was  contem 
plated  on  this  occasion,  and  it  was  certainly  as  much  as  we  had  a  right  to  calcu 
late  upon  with  our  very  inferior  army.  This  may  account  for  the  delay  at  Chew's 
house,  which  has  been  so  mucli  censured  by  those,  who  have  rashly  asserted  that 
a  complete  victory  was  in  our  power. 

I  presume  this  is  the  first  defence  that  has  been  made  of  the  failure  at  Ger- 
mantown,  and  I  must  confess  my  satisfaction  to  find  that  it  agrees  with  General 
WILKINSON'S  and  General  HENRY  LEE'S  opinions  of  that  affair. 


DEFEAT  OF  GENERAL  BURGOYNE.  297 

and  adroitness  of  regular  soldiers.  In  the  situation  of  our  army, 
necessarily  deficient  in  discipline,  something  of  that  attention  to 
minutiae  ;  that  acquaintance  with  the  duties  of  the  adjutant  and 
drill  sergeant  with  the  occasional  exercise  of  them,  which  have 
been  ascribed  to  the  King  of  Prussia  ;  that  searching  eye,  which 
runs  along  the  line,  detecting  at  a  glance,  the  remissness  of  every 
lounger,  might  have  been  desirable  in  its  commander,  possessing, 
in  other  respects,  exterior  qualifications  for  the  station,  in  a  de 
gree  not  to  be  surpassed  :  a  manner  which  at  once  inspired  con 
fidence  and  attachment  ;  a  figure  pre-eminently  gentlemanly, 
dignified,  commanding,  equally  removed  from  heaviness  and  flip 
pancy,  and  blending  the  gravity  of  the  sage,  with  the  animation 
of  the  soldier.  Had  it  belonged  to  Alexander,  HephaBstion  would 
have  lost  his  compliment,  as  it  must  infallibly  have  prevented 
the  mistake  of  the  mother  of  Darius. 

The  success  of  General  Howe  ;  the  loss  of  Philadelphia  ;  as 
well  as  the  ground  given  in  the  northern  quarter  by  the  retreat  of 
General  St.  Clair ;  were  amply  counterbalanced  by  the  utter  ex 
tinction  of  Burgoyne's  army  on  the  fifteenth  of  October.*  As 
Reading  lay  in  the  route  from  Saratoga  to  York  where  Congress 
was  now  assembled,  we  received  before  that  body,  the  particu 
lars  of  this  glorious  event,  from  Major  Wilkinson,!  who  was 

*  On  the  return  of  General  BURGOYNE  to  England,  on  his  parole,  the  King  re 
fused  to  see  him,  and  he  in  vain  solicited  a  Court-martial.  Under  these  circum 
stances,  he  threw  himself  upon  Parliament,  and  a  motion  was  made  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  for  an  inquiry  into  the  Convention  at  Saratoga;  which  was  got  rid 
of  by  the  previous  question."  Note  by  the  Editor  of  Walpole's  Letters. — ED. 

t  Afterwards  General  JAMES  WILKINSON.  He  was  more  distinguished  for  his 
ponderous  "Memoirs"  of  doubtful  authority,  than  for  any  very  effective  service 
in  war  at  any  period  of  his  career,  although,  like  another  celebrated  chieftain,  he 
was  a  "hero  of  two  «?ars,"  the  Revolutionary  and  Madisonian,  that  is  to  say,  he 
belonged  to  the  army  at  both  periods.  He  was  no  doubt  a  brave  man.  He  was 
sent  by  GATES  to  Congress  to  communicate  intelligence  of  BURGOYNE'S  surrender. 
He  was  also  charged  with  being  concerned  in  the  famous  CONWAY  CABAL.  In 
return  for  the  magnanimity  of  our  author  in  his  reference  to  this  gentleman,  it  is 
but  proper  that  the  General's  very  favourable,  but  no  doubt  very  just,  impressions 
in  regard  to  him  should  appear.  In  Vol.  I.  at  p.  339,  of  the  Memoirs  of  Wilkin 
son,  we  read  as  follows :  "  Besides  Mr.  BIDDLE,  I  had  another  acquaintance,  a 
contemporary  whose  independence  of  sentiment  and  manly  deportment,  had  at 
tracted  my  attention  and  engaged  my  esteem  during  my  residence  in  Philadel 
phia;  but  exclusive  of  his  personal  merits,  a  congeniality  of  feeling  and  parity  of 


298  AMERICAN  GENERALS. 

charged  with  the  despatches  of  General  Gates.  But  without 
loading  my  Memoirs  with  obvious  and  trite  reflections  on  this 
memorable  occurrence,  I  turn  a  moment  to  myself,  to  observe: 
That  were  I  a  prey  to  the  vulture  of  ill-starr'd  ambition,  the  men 
tion  of  a  gentleman,  with  whom  I  commenced  in  the  same  rank, 
my  military  career,  and  who  is  now  in  the  chief  command  of  the 
American  forces,  might  suggest  somewhat  unpleasantly,  the  im 
measurable  distance  he  has  left  me  behind  ;  but  the  recollections 
his  name  awakens  with  infinitely  more  interest,  are  of  a  nature 
wholly  different.  They  relate  to  pursuits  and  occupations  of  a 
character  more  congenial  to  that  season  of  life,  when,  as  a  stu 
dent  of  physic,  he  attended  medical  lectures  in  Philadelphia,  be 
fore  either  of  us  wore  a  uniform,  and  before  a  foundation  was 
laid  for  the  many  strifes  which  have  since  ensued.  Thus  much 
without  connecting  him  with  any  of  them,  I  freely  pay  to  the 
remembrance  of  an  early  friendship,  ever  renewed  when  casual 
ties  have  brought  us  together,  maugre  the  estranging  influence  of 
different  party-associations. 

The  ensuing  winter,  at  Reading,  was  gay  and  agreeable,  not 
withstanding  that  the  enemy  was  in  possession  of  the  metropolis. 
The  society  was  sufficiently  large  and  select;  and  a  sense  of  com 
mon  suffering  in  being  driven  from  their  homes,  had  the  effect  of 
more  closely  uniting  its  members.  Disasters  of  this  kind,  if  duly- 
weighed,  are  not  grievously  to  be  deplored.  The  variety  and 
bustle  they  bring  along  with  them,  give  a  spring  to  the  mind  ; 
and  when  illumined  by  hope,  as  was  now  the  case,  they  are, 
when  present,  not  painful,  and  when  past,  they  are  among  the 
incidents  most  pleasing  in  retrospection.  Besides  the  families 
established  in  this  place,  it  was  seldom  without  a  number  of  vi- 
siters,  gentlemen  of  the  army  and  others.  Hence  the  dissipation 
of  cards,  sleighing-parties,  balls,  &c.,  was  freely  indulged. 

predicament,  as  it  regarded  a  passion  which  above  all  others  most  interests  the 
youthful  heart,  had  produced  a  confidential  intimacy,  the  recollection  of  which 
at  this  distant  day,  awakens  the  sweetest  sensibilities  of  my  bosom  ;  and  I  know 
not  whether  I  compliment  the  living  or  the  dead,  when  I  declare  that  I  have 
rarely  met  with  a  man  of  more  refined  honour,  a  more  feeling*  heart,  or  more 
polished  manners,  than  ALEXANDER  GRAYDON,  Esq."  The  .M  cmoirs  of  WILKINSON 
were  printed  in  1816. — ED. 


GENERAL  MIFFLIN.  299 

General  Mifflin,  at  this  era,  was  at  home,  a  chief  out  of  war, 
complaining,  though  not  ill,  considerably  malcontent,  and  appa 
rently,  not  in  high  favour  at  Head  Quarters.  According  to  him, 
the  ear  of  the  Commander-in-chief,  was  exclusively  possessed  by 
Greene,  who  was  represented  to  be  neither  the  most  wise,  the 
most  brave,  nor  most  patriotic  of  counselors.*  In  short,  the 
campaign  in  this  quarter,  was  stigmatized  as  a  series  of  blunders  ; 
and  the  incapacity  of  those  who  had  conducted  it,  unsparingly 
reprobated.  The  better  fortune  of  the  northern  army,  was 
ascribed  to  the  superior  talents  of  its  leader ;  and  it  began  to  be 
whispered,  that  Gates  was  the  man  who  should,  of  right,  have 
the  station  so  incompetently  sustained  by  WASHINGTON.  There 
was,  to  all  appearance,  a  cabal  forming  for  his  deposition,  in 
which,  it  is  not  improbable,  that  Gates,  Mifflin  and  Conway  w7ere 
already  engaged;  and,  in  which,  the  congenial  spirit  of  Lee,  on 
his  exchange,  immediately  took  a  share.  The  well  known 
apostrophe  of  Conway  to  America,  importing  u  that  Heaven  had 
passed  a  decree  in  her  favour  or  her  ruin,  must  long  before  have 
ensued,  from  the  imbecility  of  her  military  counsels,"  was,  at 
this  time,  familiar  at  Reading ;  and  I  heard  him  myself,  when  he 
was  aftei wards  on  a  visit  to  that  place,  express  himself  to  the 

*  A  far  abler,  more  sincere,  and  more  "  earnest  man,"  as  CARLYLE  would  ex 
press  it,  than  General  MIFFLIN,  namely,  GENERAL  HENRY  LEE,  entertained  and  ex 
pressed  a  very  different  opinion.  "  No  man,"  he  says,  "  was  more  familiarized  to 
dispassionate  and  minute  research  than  General  GREENE.  He  was  patient  in  hear 
ing  every  thing  offered,  never  interrupting  or  slighting  what  was  said;  and,  having 
possessed  himself  of  the  subject  fully,  he  would  enter  into  a  critical  comparison 
of  the  opposite  arguments,  convincing  his  hearers,  as  he  proceeded,  of  the  pro 
priety  of  the  decision  he  was  about  to  pronounce."  "His  vivid  plastic  genius 
operated  on  the  latent  elements  of  martial  capacity  in  his  army,  invigorated  its 
weakness,  turned  its  confusion  into  order,  and  its  despondency  into  ardour. 
A  wide  sphere  of  intellectual  resource  enabled  him  to  inspire  confidence,  to  re 
kindle  courage,  to  decide  hesitation,  and  infuse  a  spirit  of  exalted  patriotism  in 
the  citizens  of  the  State.  By  his  own  example,  he  showed  the  incalculable  value 
of  obedience,  of  patience,  of  vigilance  and  temperance.  Dispensing  justice,  with 
an  even  hand,  to  the  citizen  and  soldier;  benign  in  heart,  and  happy  in  manners; 
he  acquired  the  durable  attachment  and  esteem  of  all.  He  collected  around  his 
person,  able  and  respectable  officers;  and  selected,  for  the  several  departments, 
those  who  were  best  qualified  to  fill  them.  His  operations  were  then  commenced 
with  a  boldness  of  design,  well  calculated  to  raise  the  drooping  hopes  of  his  coun 
try,  and  to  excite  the  respect  of  the  enemy." — ED. 


300  MIFFLIN — GATES — LEE — CONWAY. 

effect :  "  That  no  man  was  more  a  gentleman  than  GerieralWASH- 
INGTON,  or  appeared  to  more  advantage  at  his  table,  or  in  the  usual 
intercourse  of  life ;  but  as  to  his  talents  for  the  command  of  an 
army,  (with  a  French  shrug)  they  were  miserable  indeed."  Ob 
servations  of  this  kind,  continually  repeated,  could  not  fail  to 
make  an  impression  within  the  sphere  of  their  circulation  ;  and 
it  may  be  said,  that  the  popularity  of  the  Commander-in-chief, 
was  a  good  deal  impaired  at  Reading.  As  to  myself,  however, 
I  can  confidently  aver,  that  I  never  was  proselyted  ;  or  gave  into 
the  opinion  for  a  moment,  that  any  man  in  America,  was  worthy 
to  supplant  the  exalted  character,  that  presided  in  her  army.  I 
might  have  been  disposed,  perhaps,  to  believe,  that  such  talents 
as  were  possessed  by  Lee,  could  they  be  brought  to  act  subordi- 
nately,  might  often  be  useful  to  him;  but  I  ever  thought  it  would 
be  a  fatal  error,  to  put  any  other  in  his  place.  Nor  was  I  the 
only  one,  who  forbore  to  become  a  partizan  of  Gates.*  Several 
others  thought  they  saw  symptoms  of  selfishness  in  the  business; 
nor  could  the  great  eclat  of  the  northern  campaign,  convince  them, 
that  its  hero  was  superior  to  WASHINGTON.  The  duel  which  af 
terwards  took  place  between  Generals  Conwayf  and  Cadwalader, 

*  GENERAL  HORATIO  GATES  was  an  Englishman,  and  had  served  in  America 
during  the  war  of  1755.  Little  is  known  of  his  early  career.  He  is  said  to  have 
been  born  in  1728,  "  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  major  by  the  force  of  merit  alone." 
HORACE  WALFOLE,  in  writing  to  HORACE  MANN,  speaks  of  the  god-son  of  the  lat 
ter,  HORATIO  GATES,  and  of  his  capture  of  BURGOYNE,  at  Saratoga. 

He  settled  in  Virginia,  where,  at  the  commencement  of  the  war  of  the  Revolu 
tion,  he  received  from  Congress  the  appointment  of  Adjutant-General,  with  the 
rank  of  Brigadier  to  the  army  assembled  before  Boston  in  the  first  campaign. 
After  the  capture  of  BURGOYNE,  when  the  popularity  of  GATES,  in  consequence  of 
this  good  fortune,  was  at  its  height,  "  intrigues  were  commenced  for  elevating  him 
to  the  station  occupied  by  WASHINGTON,  which  were  as  shameful  as  they  were  un 
successful."  How  far  he  was  engaged  in  them  it  is  not  now  possible  to  determine. 
In  June,  1780,  GATES  received  the  Chief  command  of  the  Southern  army,  and 
when  about  to  leave  Virginia  for  the  south,  "his  old  acquaintance,  General 
CHARLES  LEE,  waited  on  him  to  take  leave,  and  pressing  his  hand,  bade  him  bear 
in  mind,  that  the  laurels  of  the  North  must  not  be  exchanged  for  the  willow  of 
the  South."  He  was  defeated  by  CORNWALLIS,  at  the  battle  of  Camden,  on  the 
16th  of  August.  He  died  on  the  10th  of  April,  1806,  in  the  78th  year  of  his 
age."— En. 

t  GENERAL  THOMAS  CONWAY  was  born  in  Ireland.  He  received  a  military  edu 
cation  in  France,  where,  at  the  age  six  years,  he  accompanied  his  parents.  He 


SOCIETY  AT  READING.  301 

though  immediately  proceeding  from  an  unfavourable  opinion 
expressed  by  the  latter  of  the  conduct  of  the  former  at  German- 
town,  had  perhaps  a  deeper  origin,  and  some  reference  to  this 
intrigue  :*  as  I  had  the  means  of  knowing,  that  General  Cad 
walader,  suspecting  Mifflin  had  instigated  Conway  to  fight  him, 
was  extremely  earnest  to  obtain  data  from  a  gentleman  who 
lived  in  Reading,  whereon  to  ground  a  serious  explanation  with 
Mifflin.  So  much  for  the  manoeuvring,  which  my  location  at  one 
of  its  principal  seats,  brought  me  acquainted  with  ;  and  which, 
its  authors  were  soon  after  desirous  of  burying  in  oblivion. 
Among  the  persons,  who,  this  winter,  spent  much  time  in 

came  to  this  country  with  strong  recommendations,  and,  in  1777,  received  from 
Congress  the  appointment  of  Brigadier-General.  He  was,  however,  distinguished 
only  by  his  ridiculous  hostility  to  WASHINGTON,  and  by  his  absurd  endeavour 
to  place  his  friend  General  GATES,  in  the  Chief  command  of  the  army.  "  In  this 
he  was  supported  by  several  members  of  Congress.  He  was  appointed  by  that 
body  Inspector-General  of  the  Army,  with  the  rank  of  Major-General,  but,  was 
soon  obliged  to  resign  his  commission,  on  account  of  his  unpopularity  with  the 
officers.  In  consequence  of  his  calumnies  against  WASHINGTON,  he  was  chal 
lenged  by  General  Cadwalader,  and  wounded  in  the  head.  Supposing  that  he 
was  mortally  injured,  he  wrote  a  satisfactory  letter  of  apology  to  WASHINGTON, 
for  the  injury  he  had  endeavoured  to  inflict  upon  his  character."  He  returned  to 
France  at  the  close  of  the  year  1778. 

The  absurd  aspirations  of  the  English  General,  GATES,  the  weak  and  mi 
serable  intrigues  of  his  countryman  and  partisan,  CONWAY,  the  vanity  and  in 
subordination  of  their  able  but  eccentric  countryman,  General  CHARLES  LEE, 
caused  far  more  annoyance  to  the  Commander-in-chief,  than  the  inexperience 
of  all  the  other  officers  together,  who,  suddenly  summoned  to  the  field  from  the 
ordinary  avocations  of  life,  were  compelled  to  learn  the  art  of  war,  amidst  its 
perils  and  responsibilities. — ED. 

*  Not  that  General  CADWALADER  was  induced  from  the  intrigue  to  speak  un 
favourably  of  General  CONWAY'S  behaviour  at  Germantown.  That  of  itself,  was  a 
sufficient  ground  of  censure.  Conway,  it  seems,  during  the  action-,  was  found  in 
a  farm-house  by  Generals  REED  and  CADWALADER.  Upon  their  inquiring  the 
cause,  he  replied,  in  great  agitation,  that  his  horse  was  wounded  in  the  neck. 
Being  urged  to  get  another  horse,  and  at  any  rate  to  join  his  brigade  which  was 
engaged,  he  declined  it,  repeating  that  his  horse  was  wounded  in  the  neck.  Upon 
Conway's  applying  to  Congress,  some  time  after  to  be  made  a  Major-General,  and 
earnestly  urging  his  suit,  Cadwalader  made  known  this  conduct  of  his  at  German- 
town  ;  and  it  was  for  so  doing,  that  Conway  gave  the  challenge,  the  issue  of 
which  was,  his  being  dangerously  wounded  in  the  face  from  the  pistol  of  General 
Cadwalader.  He  recovered,  however,  and  some  time  time  after  went  to  France. 

26 


302  MR.  DUER — CAPTAIN  SPEKE. 

Reading,  was  one  Luttiloe,*  a  foreigner,  who  was  afterwards 
arrested  in  London  on  suspicion  of  hostile  designs ;  also  Mr. 
William  Duer,  who  either  was,  or  lately  had  been,  a  member  of 
Congress.  His  character  is  well  known.  He  was  of  the  dash 
ing  cast,  a  man  of  the  world,  confident  and  animated,  with  a 
promptitude  in  displaying  the  wit  and  talents  he  possessed, 
with  very  little  regard  to  the  decorum,  which  either  time  or 
place  imposed.  Of  this  he  gave  an  instance,  one  day,  at  Mr. 
Edward  Biddle's,  which,  had  it  been  on  a  theatre,  where  the 
royal  cause  was  predominant,  I  should  have  relished  :  as  it  was, 
it  was  unpleasant  to  me.  Captain  Spekef  of  the  British  army, 
a  prisoner,  was  present,  with  his  eye  on  a  newspaper,  several 
of  which  had  lately  come  out  of  Philadelphia,  when  Duer, 
taking  up  another  began  to  read  aloud,  commenting  with  much 
sarcasm  on  the  paragraphs  as  he  went  along.  Speke  bore  it  a 
good  while,  but  at  length  Duer's  remarks  became  so  pinching 
that  he  was  roused  to  reply.  To  this  he  received  a  ready  re 
joinder,  and  a  warm  altercation  was  on  the  point  of  taking 
place,  when  Captain  Speke  prudently  took  the  resolution  of  re 
linquishing  the  field;  and  taking  up  his  hat,  abruptly  retired. 

*  HENRY  LUTTERLOH,  Esq.,  a  German.  He  is  so  called  in  the  account,  under  the 
head  of  Britain,  in  Dobson's  Encyclopedia,  and  was  concerned  with  De  la  Motte 
who  was  executed  for  treason,  whom,  on  being  arrested,  he  informed  against. 
HENRY  EMANUEL  LUTTERLOH.— On  the  14th  of  April,  1790,  at  the  second  session 
of  the  first  Congress,  after  the  organization  of  the  Government,  a  petition  was 
presented  by  this  gentleman  praying  to  be  allowed  the  pay  and  emoluments  of  a 
colonel,  in  consideration  of  military  services  rendered  to  the  United  States  during 
the  war.  This  petition  was  referred  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  who  reported  on 
the  20th  May.  His  report  was  referred  to  a  committee,  and  their  report  was 
taken  up  on  the  2d  of  August,  and  disagreed  to,  and  the  petitioner  had  leave 
granted  him  to  withdraw  his  petition.  At  the  third  session  of  this  Congress,  he 
presented  another  petition  praying  that  his  memorial  might  be  reconsidered — 
and  he  was  again  rejected.  At  the  first  session  of  the  second  Congress,  he  again 
petitioned.  A  committee  reported,  but  there  was  no  action  on  the  report;  but  at 
the  next  session,  the  House  resolved — that  the  account  of  "Colonel  Henry  Ema- 
nuel  Lutterloh,  for  his  travelling  and  passage  expenses  incurred  in  coming  to 
America,  and  joining  the  army  of  the  United  States,  in  1777,  being  seven  hun 
dred  and  forty-six  dollars,  be  settled,  and  the  amount  thereof  to  be  paid  out  of  the 
treasury  of  the  United  States."  History  of  Congress  during  first  term  of  WASH 
INGTON. — ED. 

t  CAPTAIN  SPEKE  was  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Germantown. 


CAPTAIN  SPEKE.  303 

AsSpeke,  although  a  thorough  Englishman,  was  a  well-bred  man, 
with  whom  I  had  become  acquainted,  and  had  exchanged  some 
civilities,  I  was  not  a  little  hurt  at  this  circumstance,  as  the  com 
pany  in  general  seemed  to  be.  Duer  for  his  part  triumphed  in 
his  success,  displaying  a  heart,  which  however  bold  on  the  safe 
side  of  the  lines,  might  nevertheless  have  been  sufficiently  meek 
on  the  other;  at  least,  such  a  conduct  would  but  conform  to  the 
result  of  my  observations  on  persons  who  play  the  bashaw  in 
prosperity;  and  I  believe  it  is  pretty  generally  agreed,  to  be  no 
mark  of  game  to  crow  upon  a  dunghill.  While  upon  the  subject 
of  Captain  Speke,  I  will  finish  the  little  I  have  to  say  of  him. 
He  belonged,  if  my  recollection  does  not  fail  me,  to  the  same  re 
giment  with  Mr.  Becket ;  at  least,  he  was  well  acquainted  with 
him,  and  told  me  he  had  heard  him  speak  of  me.  He  was  young 
and  lively,  with  an  addiction  to  that  sly  significance  of  remark, 
characteristic  both  of  his  profession  and  his  nation;  and  which 
may  be  pardoned,  when  accompanied  with  good  humour.  Taking 
up  my  hat,  one  day,  when  at  his  quarters,  to  take  coffee  with  him 
and  one  or  two  others  of  his  fellow  prisoners,  he  observed,  that 
it  was  a  very  decent  one,  which  is  more,  said  he,  than  I  can  say 
of  those  generally  worn  by  the  officers  of  your  army :  they  have 
precisely  what  we  call  in  England,  the  damn  my  eyes  cock.  At 
another  time,  having  called  upon  me  at  my  mother's,  I  was  led 
by  some  circumstance,  to  advert  to  the  awkward  form  and  low 
ceiling  of  the  room  ;  but  "  faith,"  said  he,  looking  round,  "  you 
have  made  the  most  of  it  with  furniture ;"  which  was  true  enough, 
as  it  was  unmercifully  overloaded  with  chairs,  tables  and  family 
pictures.  Such  freedoms  may  fully  justify  me  in  scanning  Mr, 
Speke,  who,  to  say  the  truth,  was,  in  point  of  information,  far 
above  the  level  which  is  allowed  to  the  gentlemen  of  the  British 
army,  by  Swift  and  other  writers  of  their  nation.  As  to  "  your 
JYoveds  and  Blutarks,  and  Omurs  and  stuff,"  I  know  not  if  he 
was  of  the  noble  Captain's  opinion,  in  Hannah's  animated  plea 
for  turning  Hamilton's  bawn  into  a  barrack;  but  he  had  read 
some  of  the  English  poets;  and  speaking  of  Prior  and  Pope,  I 
remember  his  saying,  that  the  former  was  much  preferred  to  the 
latter,  by  people  of  taste  in  England.  But  grant  what  we  may 
to  the  sprightliness  and  easy  gaiety  of  Prior,  this  can  hardly  be 


304  BRITISH  OFFICERS  ON  PAROLE. 

the  award  of  sound  criticism.  Being  heartily  tired  of  the  condi 
tion  of  a  captive,  Mr.  Speke  was  extremely  anxious  to  get  rid  of 
it,  and  to  this  effect  suggested,  that  by  mutual  exertion,  we  might 
be  exchanged  for  each  other.  He  said,  that  if  I  could  obtain 
permission  for  him  to  go  into  Philadelphia  on  parole,  he  had  no 
doubt  of  having  sufficient  interest  to  effect  it.  I  accordingly 
took  the  liberty  to  write  to  General  WASHINGTON  on  the  subject, 
but  was  a  long  time  in  suspense  as  to  the  success  of  my  ap 
plication.  An  additional  inducement  to  the  step,  was,  that  both 
Colonel  Miles  and  Major  West,  had  by  requisition  of  General 
Howe,  repaired  to  Philadelphia  ;  and  I  every  day  expected  a 
similar  summons.  It  had  been  given  out  that  these  gentlemen 
had  not  observed  all  the  passiveness  which  had  been  enjoined 
upon  them  by  their  parole  ;  and  I  well  knew  that  I  was  charged 
with  a  like  transgression.  I  had  spoken  freely,  it  is  true,  of  the 
treatment  of  prisoners ;  and  this  was  considered  by  the  Tories  and 
some  of  the  British  officers  in  our  hands,  as  very  unpardonable 
in  one  who  had  been  favoured  as  I  had  been ;  and  I  was  aware 
that  I  was  threatened  with  a  retraction  of  the  indulgence.  I  re 
mained,  however,  unmolested.  The  situation  of  Miles  and  West 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  army  at  White  Marsh,  was,  perhaps, 
the  circumstance  which  gave  colour  to  the  accusation  against 
them  ;  but  they  were  not  long  detained. 

Besides,  that  it  would  have  ill  comported  with  the  indulgence 
I  enjoyed,  it  was  abhorrent  to  my  feelings,  to  behave  haughtily  to 
a  prisoner.  There  were  two  puppies,  however,  in  that  predica 
ment,  in  whom  I  immediately  recognised  the  insolent  manner  of 
a  genuine  scoundrel  in  red;  and  these,  I  cautiously  avoided. 
They  were  subalterns  ;  one  of  whom,  of  the  name  of  Wilson,  was 
base  enough,  under  the  false  pretence  of  being  related  to  the  Cap 
tain  Wilson,  who  he  had  some  how  learned  had  treated  me  with 
civility,  to  borrow  a  few  guineas  of  my  mother,  which  it  unluckily 
slipped  his  memory  to  repay.  Had  I  been  aware  of  the  applica 
tion,  the  loan  would  have  been  prevented ;  •  but  I  never  knew  of 
the  circumstance  until  after  his  exchange.  With  the  exception  of 
these  fellows,  who,  I  had  the  mortification  to  hear,  had  found  their 
way  to  General  WASHINGTON'S  table,  at  the  time  of  their  being 


BRITISH  OFFICERS  ON  PAROLE.  305 

taken,  all  the  prisoners  in  Reading  behaved  with  much  decency. 
Among  them,  were  a  number  of  German  officers,  who  had  really 
the  appearance  of  being,  what  we  call,  down-right  men.  There 
was  a  Major  Stine,  a  Captain  Sobbe  and  a  Captain  Wetherholt  of 
the  Hessians,  whom  I  sometimes  fell  in  with.  There  were  several 
others,  with  whom  I  was  not  acquainted,  and  whose  names  I  do 
not  remember.  One  old  gentleman,  a  colonel,  was  a  great  pro 
fessional  reader,  whom,  on  his  application,  I  accommodated  with 
such  books  of  the  kind,  as  I  had.  Another  of  them,  a  very  portly 
personage,  apparently  replete  with  national  phlegm,  was,  never 
theless,  enthusiastically  devoted  to  music,  in  which,  he  was  so 
absorbed,  as  seldom  to  go  abroad.  I  did  not  know  this  musical 
gentleman,  except  by  sight ;  but  I  have  understood  from  those 
who  did,  that  call  upon  him  at  what  time  they  would,  and,  like 
another  Achilles  in  retirement, 

Amus'd  at  ease,  the  godlike  man  they  found. 
Pleas'd  with  the  solemn  harp's  harmonious  sound : 

for  this  was  the  obsolete  instrument,  from  which  he  extracted  th& 
sounds  that  so  much  delighted  him.  But  of  all  the  prisoners,  one 
Graff,  a  Brunswick  officer  taken  by  General  Gates's  army,  was 
admitted  to  the  greatest  privileges.  Under  the  patronage  of  Doc 
tor  Potts,  who  had  been  principal  surgeon  in  the  Northern  Depart 
ment,  he  had  been  introduced  to  our  dancing  parties ;  and  being 
always  afterwards  invited,  he  never  failed  to  attend.  He  was  a 
young  man  of  mild  and  pleasing  manners,  with  urbanity  enough 
to  witness  the  little  triumphs  of  party  without  being  incited  to  ill 
humour  by  them.  Over-hearing  a  dance  called  for,  one  evening, 
which  we  had  named  Burgoyne's  surrender,  he  observed  to  his 
partner,  that  it  was  a  very  pretty  dance,  notwithstanding  the  name ; 
and  that  General  Burgoyne  himself  would  be  happy  to  dance  it 
in  such  good  company.  There  was  also  a  Mr.  Stutzoe,  of  the 
Brunswick  dragoons,  than  whose,  I  have  seldom  seen  a  figure  %/ 
more  martial ;  or  a  manner  more  indicative  of  that  manly  open 
ness,  which  is  supposed  to  belong  to  the  character  of  a  soldier.  I 
had  a  slight  acquaintance  with  him ;  and  recollect  with  satisfac- 

26* 


306  EXCLUSIVE  PATRIOTISM. 

tion,  his  calling  on  me  at  the  time  of  his  exchange,  to  make  me 
his  acknowledgments,  as  he  was  pleased  to  say,  for  my  civilities 
to  the  prisoners. 

Perhaps  I  may  be  excused  for  these  trifling  details,  when  it  is 
considered,  that  they  serve  to  mark  the  temper  of  the  times,  and 
to  show,  that  they  were  not  all  fire  and  fury,  as  certain  modern 
pretenders  to  the  spirit  of  Seventy-Six,  have  almost  persuaded  us 
they  were.  It  ought  to  be  granted,  indeed,  that  an  equal  degree 
of  toleration  was  not  every  where  to  be  met  with.  It  would 
scarcely  have  been  found  in  that  description  of  persons,  which 
soon  arrogated,  and  have  since  voted  themselves  the  exclusive 
possession  of  all  the  patriotism  in  the  nation.  Even  that  small 
portion  of  the  monopolists  which  resided  at  Reading,  revolted  at 
a  moderation  they  did  not  understand ;  and  all  who  were  less  vio 
lent  and  bigoted  than  themselves,  were  branded  as  Tories.  All 
the  families  which  had  removed  from  Philadelphia  were  involved 
in  this  reproach ;  and,  in  their  avoidance  of  the  enemy  to  the 
manifest  injury  of  their  affairs,  they  were  supposed  to  exhibit 
proofs  of  disaffection.  Nor  was  I  much  better  off:  my  having 
risked  myself  in  the  field  was  nothing:  I  should  have  staid  at 
home,  talked  big,  been  a  militia-man  and  hunted  Tories. 

In  confirmation  o.C  my  remark,  that  toleration  was  not  among 
the  virtues  affected  by  those  who  were  emphatically  styled  THE 
PEOPLE,  I  will  instance  the  case  of  a  young  Scotch  officer  of  the 
name  of  Dunlap,  who  was  one  day  beset  in  the  street  by  certain 
persons  overflowing  with  Whigism ;  and,  for  presuming  to  resent 
the  insults  he  received  from  them,  was  not  only  severely  cudgeled, 
but  afterwards  put  to  jail.  This  treatment  might  have  fairly 
squared  with  that  of  our  officers  from  the  royal  side,  in  relation  to 
the  fish  sellers ;  though  I  will  undertake  to  aver,  that,  generally 
speaking,  the  prisoners  in  our  hands,  were  treated  both  with  lenity 
and  generosity.  Some  time  after  this  affray,  happening,  at  a  table 
in  Philadelphia,  to  be  placed  by  the  side  of  Doctor  Witherspoon, 
then  a  member  of  Congress,  I  took  occasion  to  mention  it  to  him ; 
and  to  intercede  for  his  good  offices  in  regard  to  the  liberation  of 
Dunlap,  who  was  still  in  jail.  I  counted  something  upon  the 
national  spirit,  supposed  to  be  so  prevalent  among  North  Britons ; 


DR.  WITHERSPOON.  307 

and  yet  more,  upon  the  circumstance  of  knowing  from  Dunlap 
and  two  other  young  Scotchmen,  his  fellow  prisoners,  that  Doctor 
Witherspoon  had  been  well  acquainted  with  their  families.  I  did 
not  find,  however,  that  the  Doctor  was  much  melted  to  compassion 
for  the  mishap  of  his  countryman,  as  he  contented  himself  with 
coldly  observing,  that  if  I  could  suggest  any  substantial  ground 
for  him  to  proceed  upon,  he  would  do  what  he  could  for  the  young 
man.  It  appeared  to  me,  that  enough  had  been  suggested,  by  my 
simple  relation  of  the  facts  ;  and  I  had  nothing  more  to  offer.  But 
whether  or  not  my  application  was  of  any  benefit  to  its  object, 
my  presentation  of  the  laddies  to  the  recollection  of  the  Doctor, 
seemed  to  have  something  of  national  interest  in  it ;  and  had  the 
effect,  to  incite  him  to  a  shrewd  remark,  according  to  his  manner. 
He  told  me  he  had  seen  the  young  men  soon  after  they  had  been 
taken,  and  was  suprised  to  find  one  of  them,  whose  name  I  forget, 
so  much  of  a  cub.  His  father,  said  he,  was  a  very  sprightly  fel 
low,  when  I  knew  him.  This  lad  is  the  fruit  of  a  second  marriage  ; 
and  I  immediately  concluded,  when  I  saw  him,  said  the  Doctor, 
that  Jemmey,  or  Sawney  something,  mentioning  the  father's  name, 
had  taken  some  clumsy  girl  to  wife  for  the  sake  of  a  fortune.* 


*  JOHN  WITIIKRSPOON,  D.  D.,  L..  L.  D.  He  was  born  in  Scotland,  and  was  dis 
tinguished  among-  the  Scotch  Clergy  for  talent  and  influence.  He  was  twice  in 
vited  to  the  Presidency  of  Princeton  College,  and  finally  arrived  in  New  Jersey 
with  his  family,  in  1768.  The  War  of  the  Revolution  dispersed  the  students,  and 
President  Witherspoon  almost  immediately  entered  upon  political  life.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Convention  which  formed  the  Constitution  of  New  Jersey,  and 
in  1776  was  appointed  a  member  of  Congress,  and  retained  his  seat  during  the 
War.  His  name  is  affixed  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the  articles 
of  Confederation.  After  the  War,  he  returned  to  his  duties  at  the  College.  He 
died  in  171)4,  in  the  73d  year  of  his  age. — Ehcy.  Amer. 

"On  the  morning  of  our  national  birth. day,  the  fourth  of  July,  1776,  when  the 
Declaration  of  American  Independence  was  made — when  the  Committee,  pre 
viously  appointed  to  draft  that  instrument,  made  their  report  through  their  Chair 
man,  THOMAS  JEFFERSON — and  by  whom  it  was  read,  the  House  paused — hesi 
tated,.  That  instrument,  they  saw,  cut  them  off  even  from  the  mercy  of  Great 
Britain.  They  saw  with  prophetic  vision  all  the  horrors  of  a  sanguinary  war — 
carnage  and  desolation  passed  in  swift  review  before  them.  They  saw  the 
prospect  of  having  riveted  still  more  closely  upon  their  already  chafed  and  bleed 
ing  limbs  the  chains  of  slavery.  .The  House  seemed  to  waver — silence,  deep  and 
solemn  silence,  reigned  throughout  the  hall  of  the  spacious  Capitol.  Every 


308  SELFISHNESS  OF  COMMUNITIES. 

On  looking  back  here,  and  adverting  to  the  free  observations  I 
have  from  time  to  time  made,  both  on  revolutionary  men  and 
measures,  I  am  aware,  that  I  have  no  forgiveness  to  expect  from 
many,  for  attempting  to  rub  off  the  fine  varnish  which  adheres  to 
them.  But  I  set  out  with  the  avowed  design  of  declaring  the 
truth ;  and  to  this,  I  have  most  sacredly  and  concientiously  con 
formed,  according  to  my  persuasions,  even  as  to  the  colouring  of 
each  particular  I  have  touched  upon.  The  same  veracity  shall 
direct  my  future  delineations,  well  knowing,  that,  independently 
of  my  obligation  to  do  justice,  this  alone  must  constitute  the 
merit  of  my  Memoirs.  That  we  were  not,  and  still  are  not  with 
out  patriotism,  in  an  equal  degree,  perhaps,  with  other  nations,  I 
have  no  inclination  to  question ;  but  that  a  noble  disinterestedness 
and  willingness  to  sacrifice  private  interest  to  public  good,  should 
be  the  general  disposition  any  where,  my  acquaintance  with  human 
nature,  neither  warrants  me  in  asserting  or  believing.  The  preva 
lence  of  generous  sentiment,  of  which,  no  doubt,  there  is  a  portion 
in  all  communities,  depends  very  much  upon  those,  who  have  the 
direction  of  their  affairs.  Under  the  guidance  of  WASHINGTON, 
both  during  the  Revolution  and  his  administration  of  the  General 
Government,  the  honourable  feelings  being  cherished  and  brought 

countenance  indicated  that  deep  meditation  was  at  work ;  and  the  solemn  reso 
lutions  were  calling  for  double  energy.  At  this  fearful  crisis,  when  the  very 
destiny  of  the  country  seemed  to  be  suspended  upon  the  action  of  a  moment,  the 
silence,  the  painful  silence  was  broken.  An  aged  patriarch  arose — a  venerable 
and  stately  form,  his  head  white  with  the  frosts  of  many  years.  He  cast  on  the 
assembly  a  look  of  inexpressible  interest  and  unconquerable  determination  ; 
while  on  his  visage  the  hue  of  age  was  lost  as  burning  patriotism  fired  his 
cheek.  'There  is,'  said  he,  'a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men,  a  nick  of  time.  We 
perceive  it  now  before  us.  That  noble  instrument  upon  your  table,  which  ensures 
immortality  to  its  author,  should  be  subscribed  this  very  morning,  by  every  pen 
in  the  house.  He  who  will  not  respond  to  its  accents  and  strain  every  nerve  to 
carry  into  effect  its  provisions,  is  unworthy  the  name  of  a  freeman.  Although 
these  gray  hairs  must  descend  into  the  sepulchre,  I  would  infinitely  rather  they 
should  descend  thither  by  the  hand  of  the  public  executioner,  than  desert  at  this 
crisis  the  sacred  cause  of  my  country.'  The  patriarch  sat  down,  and  forthwith 
the  Declaration  was  signed  by  every  member  present.  Who  was  that  venerable 
patriarch?  It  was  JOHN  WITHERSPOOX,  of  New  Jersey,  a  distinguished  Minister 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  a  lineal  descendant  of  JOHN  KNOX,  the  great  Scotch. 
Reformer."—- Speech  of  the  Rev.  S.  S.  Tcmpleton.—Eu~ 


THE  AUTHOR  EXCHANGED AND  MARRIED.         309 

into  action,  they  had  a  temporary  predominance  over  those,  which 
were  selfish  and  base.  But  these,  in  their  turn,  having  acquired 
the  ascendency,  we  may  sadly  recognise  with  the  poet,  that 

"An  empty  form 

Is  the  weak  virtue  that  amid  the  shade 
Lamenting  lies,  with  future  schemes  amus'd, 
While  wickedness  and  folly,  kindred  powers, 
Confound  the  world." 

The  liberty  I  have  taken,  in  making  the  reader  the  confidant 
of  the  attachment  I  carried  with  me  into  the  army,  and  brought 
home  with  me,  unimpaired,  on  the  extension  of  my  parole,  im 
poses  it  upon  me  as  a  sort  of  duty  in  point  of  poetical  justice,  to 
announce  my  marriage,  which  took  place  in  the  spring  of  1778. 
But  this  was  not  until  my  exchange  had  been  notified  to  me  by 
Colonel  Boudinot,  the  Commissary  of  prisoners ;  and  having  now 
little  before  me,  but  the  vapid  occurrences  of  retired  life,  I  shall 
here  hold  myself  absolved  from  farther  attention  to  any  matters 
merely  of  a  personal  or  private  nature.  Captain  Speke  had  gone 
into  Philadelphia,  some  time  before ;  and  it  is  not  improbable, 
that  we  had  been  exchanged  for  each  other ;  but,  of  this,  I  was 
not  informed.  I  was  now  at  liberty  to  act,  and  was  also  liable 
to  be  called  into  Service ;  but,  however  willing  I  might  have 
been  to  consider  myself  a  soldier,  or  to  obey  orders,  I  had  no 
regiment  to  join,  or  men  to  command.  The  third  battalion  still 
existed  in  name,  but  with  scarce  a  particle  of  its  original  mate 
rials.  It  wTas  entirely  changed  as  to  officers  and  men,  with  the 
exception,  perhaps,  of  one  or  two  of  the  former,  that  had  escaped 
captivity  by  absence  on  account  of  sickness  or  otherwise.  The 
affair  of  Fort  Washington,  had  an  effect  not  unlike  that  of  enter 
ing  into  a  monastery  in  England,  in  days  of  yore:  as,  in  the  one 
case,  a  man  was  said  to  be  civilly  dead,  so  in  the  other  he  was 
militarily  so ;  and  although  as  much  alive  as  ever  to  corporeal 
wants  and  necessities,  yet  was  he  dead  as  an  antediluvian,  as  to 
all  purposes  of  worldly  advantage.  Nor  was  it  the  garrison 
alone,  but  the  very  event  itself,  that  was  offensive  to  remembrance  ; 
and  it  has  grown  into  a  sort  of  fashion  among  our  annalists,  to 
pass  lightly  over  this  inauspicious  transaction,  somewhat  in  the 


310 


HISTORICAL  TRUTH. 


same  spirit,  that  Rome,  according  to  Lucan,  was  willing  to  forget 
the  disastrous  day  of  Pharsalia. 

"  Tempora  signavit  leviorum  Roma  malorum 
Hunc  voluit  nescire  diem." 

The  compiler  of  the  article  "America,"  in  Mr.  Dobson's  En 
cyclopedia,  does  indeed  inform  us,  that  there  was  such  a  fortress, 
which,  some  how  or  other,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  British,  who 
by  the  bye,  did  not  catch  a  man  of  the  garrison.  Other  chro 
niclers,  of  an  humbler  class,  are  equally  concise  upon  the  occa 
sion  ;  and  even  the  very  fanciful  biographer,  who  gives  to  the  boy 
hood  of  General  WASHINGTON,  certain  prettinesses  we  should 
have  little  suspected  it  of,  and  to  General  Wayne,  the  manners 
of  a  rustic  booby  with  the  blundering  facilities  of  a  true  Hiber 
nian,  finds,  in  it,  no  attractions  for  the  strokes  of  his  very  popular 
pencil.  These  are  but  summaries,  it  is  true,  in  which  we  ought 
not  to  look  for  full  details ;  yet,  as  they  are  more  generally  read 
than  ampler  histories,  and  thence  tend  to  fix  the  colours  of  the 
time,  it  is  of  consequence  that  they  should  exhibit  some  resem 
blance  of  the  facts  and  characters  they  profess  to  treat  of.* 

*  There  is  no  allusion  in  these  remarks  to  The  Life  of  WATHINGTON,  by  Dr. 
Ramsay,  which,  in  fact,  I  did  not  see  until  after  they  were  written.     Though 
brief  on  the  transaction,  as  the  nature  of  his  work  required,  he  touches  it  with  a 
due  regard  to  truth  and  the  reputation  of  those  concerned. 

The  false  in  manners  and  character  is  as  reprehensible  as  the  false  in  fact, 
but  when  the  former  is  built  upon  the  latter  it  is  truly  odious.  Nor  can  the 
making  of  a  good  book,  in  the  language  of  the  Trade,  justify  the  transferring  a 
story  from  the  infancy  of  Doctor  BEATTIE  to  that  of  General  WASHINGTON,  nor 
from  the  cups  of  an  old  army  contractor  in  the  war  of  1756,  to  those  of  General 
WAYNE  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution.  In  the  one  case,  General  WASHINGTON  is 
represented  as  a  pert  jackanapes  of  a  much  later  date,  as  the  Ion  repos  of  General 
WAYNE  sets  him  before  our  eyes  as  a  man  wholly  unacquainted  with  the  forms 
of  good  society.  On  the  contrary,  General  WAYNE  was  a  fashionable  and  dressy 
man,  familiar  with  city  manners,  and  the  tone  of  good  breeding  in  his  day.  How 
unworthy,  then,  of  the  biographer,  and  still  more  of  the  clerical  character,  to 
vamp  up  and  misapply  old  stories  by  way  of  seasoning  to  his  kickshaws  !* 

*  The  present  generation  is  more  fortunate,  if  not  wiser  than  the  past.     The 
press  literally  groans  with  elementary  books,  adapted  to  every  capacity,  and  the 
business  of  education  is  becoming  comparatively  easy  over  the  "royal  road^ 
unknown  to  our  plodding  predecessors.     In  regard  to  Histories  and  Biographies, 


CHARLES  THOMSON:.  311 

But  whatever  may  have  been  the  common  reluctance  to  advert 
to  the  unlucky  occurrences  of  the  war,  and  the  propensity  to 
dwell  only  on  pleasing  ones,  nothing  can  be  more  fair,  and  free 
from  misrepresentation,  than  were  the  official  statements  both  of 
Congress  and  General  WASHINGTON.  Even  the  British  officers, 
from  an  experience  of  their  veracity,  came  to  consider  the  name 
of  Charles  Thomson,*  as  a  voucher,  not  to  questioned ;  nor  was 

there  is  no  end  to  them,  and  the  silly  and  once  popular  inventions  of  WEEMS,  who 
is  above  referred  to,  are  seldom  seen  in  the  hands  of  judicious  and  well  informed 
people.  The  streams  of  knowledge  have  been  explored  to  their  various  sources 
and  the  result  is  a  flood  of  authentic  and  healthful  information,  invigorating  and 
fertilizing  every  section  of  this  broad  land.  Foremost  among  the  ablest  of  these 
explorers  is  MR.  JARED  SPARKS,  whose  many  and  important  contributions  to  his- 
torical  and  biographical  lore  entitle  him  to  the  gratitude  of  his  country.  The 
industry  and  research  displayed,  especially  in  his  noble  editions  of  the  Life  and 
Writings  of  WASHINGTON,  and  of  FRANKLIN,  can  scarcely  be  conceived  by  the 
mere  reader  of  History.  The  STUDENT  only  can  properly  appreciate  the  ability 
and  labour  of  this  indefatigable  investigator  and  Author.  These,  with  his  "  Ame 
rican  Biographies,"  the  work  of  various  hands,  and  the  numerous  similar  and 
equally  authentic  publications  which  every  where  abound,  leave  no  excuse  for 
ignorance  in  regard,  especially,  to  the  history  of  our  country,  and  the  lives  and 
services  of  its  distinguished  men. — ED. 

*  CHARLES  THOMSON — the  "Man  of  Truth,"  as  he  was  styled  by  the  Indians. 
He  was  Secretary  to  the  Congress  of  the  Revolution — was  a  native  of  Ireland — 
and  came  to  this  country,  indigent  and  friendless,  at  the  age  of  eleven  years. 
His  "  quiet  memory"  attracts  but  little  notice  in  this  bustling  age,  indifferent  to 
every  thing  but  gain,  yet  the  simple  story  of  his  useful  and  virtuous  life  would 
be  rich  in  impressive  teachings.  THOMSON  was  furnished  by  one  of  his  brothers 
with  the  means  to  enter  the  school  of  Dr.  ALLISON,  before  mentioned,  at  Thunder 
Hill,  in  Maryland.  It  is  related, — so  great  was  his  thirst  for  knowledge,  at  a 
time  when  "  books  were  so  rare  that  a  single  lexicon  served  the  whole  school, — 
that  one  of  the  boys  having  brought  from  Philadelphia  a  volume  of  the  Spectator, 
Thomson  was  so  delighted  with  it,  that  upon  his  school-fellows'  telling  him  that 
a  whole  set  of  the  work  was  for  sale  at  a  Book-Store  in  that  place,  he  set  off 
the  next  day,  without  asking  leave,  walked  the  whole  distance,  and  having  pos 
sessed  himself  of  the  treasure,  returned  to  school  without  farther  delay."  At 
this  Seminary  he  made  such  proficiency  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages  and 
Mathematics,  as  to  enable  him,  while  still  very  young,  to  keep  the  Friends' 
Academy  in  Philadelphia.  He  subsequently  married  and  entered  into  business 
there.  He  was  a  strict  republican  in  his  principles,  and  has  had  the  credit  of 
having  been  first  in  opposition  to  the  Stamp  Act  in  Pennsylvania.  He  discharged 
the  duties  of  the  office  of  Secretary  to  Congress,  from  the  period  of  its  first  assem 
bling  to  the  close  of  the  war,  with  credit  to  himself  and  advantage  to  the  public. 
His  integrity  was  unimpeachable,  and  "  procured  implicit  credit  for  every  thing 


312  CHARLES  THOMSON. 

less  respect  due  to  the  communications  of  the  Commander-in- 
chief,  from  which  the  annunciations  of  Congress  were  generally 
derived.  Such  was  the  spirit  and  the  policy  of  Seventy- Six ;  and 
they  were  successful  as  they  were  honourable.  Why  then,  they 
should  have  been  so  lamentably  departed  from,  and  a  suppressio 
veri,  have  become  the  primary  maxim  of  our  government,  it  is 
for  the  republicans  of  the  Gallic  school  to  explain. 

published  in  his  name."  He  assisted  in  the  organization  of  the  new  government, 
after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  and  was  deputed  to  inform  WASHINGTON  of 
his  nomination  to  the  Presidency.  He  soon  after  retired  to  private  life,  and  em- 
ployed  himself  upon  a  Translation  of  the  Bible  and  a  Synopsis  of  the  New  Tes 
tament.  He  died  in  1824,  aged  95  years. — ED. 


AFFECTATION  IN  TITLES. 


313 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Affectation  in  Titles. — Escape  of  Prisoners. — Major  Williams. — Mr.  Forrest. — 
General  Exchange  of  Prisoners. — Supernumerary  Officers. — Generals  WASH- 
INGTON  and  Charles  Lee. — Character  of  Lee. — Drayton. — Laurens. — Military 
Anecdotes. — Author  enrolled  in  the  Militia. — Wanton  Oppression. — Mr.  Parvin. 

•  — Quaker  Opinions  of  War. — Dr.  Franklin. — Visiters  at  Reading. — Mrs. 
Macaulay.— Popular  Feeling. — Milton. — Constitutionalists  and  Republicans. — 
.  Author  obtains  an  appointment. — John  Dickinson. — Political  Consistency. — 
Charles  James  Fox. 

MY  hankerings  after  the  business  of  the  tented  field,  which, 
dog's  life  as  it  is,  I  had  become  fond  of,  had  led  me  to  visit  the 
camps  both  of  White  Marsh  and  Valley  Forge,  at  each  of 
which  I  spent  a  day  or  two.  At  the  first,  we  had  a  better 
army  than  I  had  yet  seen.  The  post  too,  I  thought  a  good  one ; 
and  it  soon  after  appeared  to  be  sufficiently  respected  by  General 
Howe,  to  induce  him  to  decline  attacking  it,  although  he  had 
apparently  drawn  out  his  army  for  the  purpose.  At  Valley 
Forge,  the  aspect  of  affairs  was  different,  the  army  being  re 
duced  and  in  a  wretched  state.  Baron  de  Steuben  was,  how 
ever,  here ;  and  just  beginning  to  infuse  into  it,  that  discipline 
and  regularity,  in  which  it  was  still  too  deficient.  On  reaching 
the  camp,  I  shaped  my  course  for  the  tent  of  Colonel  Stewart, 
who,  I  was  informed,  was  at  a  barbecue  on  the  banks  of  the 
Schuylkill ;  and  being  directed  to  the  place,  I  found  him  there, 
together  with  the  greater  part  of  the  principal  officers  of  the 
army.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say,  that  the  Commander  in 
Chief  was  not  there,  nor  any  of  those  more  immediately  attached 
to  his  person.  Neither  was  General  Lee  of  the  company.  He 
had  been  invited,  but  had  drily  replied,  that  "  he  did  not  like 
barbecues."  In  fact,  they  are  seldom  a  very  attic  entertain 
ment  ;  and  it  is  probable  that  Lee's  mind  was  not  disposed  to 
27 


314  ESCAPE  OF  PRISONERS. 

hilarity.  He  had  but  lately  been  exchanged  ;  and  it  is  not  un 
charitable  to  suppose,  that  he  was  beginning  to  discover,  that, 
much  as  he  hated  the  British  court,  he  was  not,  as  he  had  once 
supposed,  Americanior  ipsis  .Americanis,  more  American  than 
the  Americans  themselves.  It  being  late  in  the  afternoon,  the 
party  was  joyous  and  pretty  full  of  liquor ;  and  I  had  the  chagrin 
to  observe,  that  the  drummer  and  fifer  who  made  music  for 
them,  and  were  deserters  from  the  enemy,  were  sneering  at 
some  of  the  gentlemen,  who  did  not  entirely  preserve  the  dignity 
of  their  stations  ;  and  were  by  much  too  liberal  in  the  reciprocal 
use  of  the  term  General,  for  that  oblivion  to  self-consequence, 
which  is  the  most  graceful  attendant  of  condition,  and  so  much 
appreciated  in  the  British  army,  as  to  introduce  a  species  of 
affectation  in  the  other  extreme,  substituting  Mr.'  for  the  title  of 
rank.  Lee,  for  instance,  says  Mr.  Howe  and  Mr.  Wolf;  and 
it  was  not  always  a  disrespect,  when  a  British  officer  said  Mr. 
Washington.  I  am  sensible,  that  it  is  against  the  laws  of  good 
fellowship,  for  a  sober  man  to  make  reflections  upon  a  mellow 
company  into  which  he  may  chance  to  be  introduced ;  but  I 
mention  no  names,  and  indeed  my  memory  would  hardly  serve 
me  were  I  disposed  to  do  it.  Still,  I  have  a  perfect  recollec 
tion  of  the  circumstance ;  and  cannot  but  recognise,  that  there 
was  no  time,  at  which  the  question  sometimes  peevishly  asked 
by  Conway,  Did  Congress  see  you  before  they  appointed  you  ? 
might  not  have  been  applicable  to  some  of  the  officers  of  our 
army  in  every  grade. 

On  the  first  day  of  December,  1777,  my  fellow-prisoners  on 
Long  Island  were,  on  account  of  a  suspected  descent  upon  that 
place,  put  on  board  of  a  prison-ship,  and  there  detained  two 
weeks.  Their  treatment,  it  seems,  was  not  to  be  complained 
of.  It  could  hardly  have  been  otherwise,  says  the  officer  from 
whose  information  I  give  the  statement,  since,  it  would  not  have 
been  safe  for  any  man  or  dozen  of  men  to  have  treated  us  ill. 
During  their  confinement,  Major  Jack  Stewart,  before  noticed 
in  these  memoirs,  and  one  or  two  others,  whom  I  do  not  re 
member,  found  means  to  make  their  escape.  A  boat,  one  eve 
ning,  happened  to  be  fastened  to  the  vessel's  side.  The  chance 


MAJOR  WILLIAMS MR.  FORREST.  315 

of  escaping  in  her  was  immediately  suggested  by  Lieutenants 
Forrest  and  Woodside,  the  latter  also  of  Shee's  regiment,  and 
they  resolved  to  make  the  attempt :  but,  previously  to  engaging 
in  it,  they  stepped  between  decks,  either  for  some  papers  or 
articles  of  clothing  that  were  in  their  trunks.  In  the  mean 
time,  Stewart  and  the  others  availed  themselves  of  the  oppor 
tunity,  quietly  let  themselves  down  into  the  boat,  cast  her  off, 
and  let  her  drift  astern  of  the  ship.  They  were  lucky  enough 
to  get  clear  of  her  unperceived ;  and  at  length  to  reach  the 
Jersey  shore  in  safety,  notwithstanding  that  their  elopement  was 
soon  discovered.  But  it  being  dark,  pursuit  was  unavailing,  as 
were  also  some  random  shots  fired  upon  the  occasion.  The 
disappointment  to  Forrest  and  Woodside,  when  they  found 
themselves  supplanted,  was  extreme ;  and  still  more  cruel  when 
it  appeared,  that  the  adventurers  had  been  successful. 

Early  in  the  Spring,  I  think,  of  1778,  I  got  a  letter  from 
Major  Williams,  acquainting  me  with  his  release,  by  exchange, 
if  I  am  not  mistaken.*  It  breathed  the  most  extravagant  joy; 
and  the  excessive  friskiness  he  describes  on  touching  our  actual 
territory,  put  me  in  mind  of  that  of  Francis  the  First,  upon  find 
ing  himself  once  more  at  liberty,  after  his  long  detention  at 
Madrid.  Williams,  it  is  true,  was  not  restored  to  a  throne ;  but 
he  was  restored  to  his  country,  to  the  right  of  proclaiming  his 
sentiments  and  wishes,  to  the  right  of  locomotion  and  action, 
and,  above  all,  to  the  right  of  avenging  his  wrongs,  and  particu 
larly  a  cruel  confinement  in  the  provost  prison,  from  which  his 
exchange  had  immediately  delivered  him.  His  motives,  there 
fore,  for  exultation,  were  not  less  than  those  of  the  King  of 
France. 

In  the  summer  following,  I  had  also  notice  of  the  liberation 
of  Mr.  Forrest,  which,  from  the  singularity  of  its  circumstances, 
requires  some  detail.  It  had  been  a  settled  opinion  among  us  at 
Flatbush,  that  if  the  place,  or  we  who  were  stationed  there,  by 
a  military  operation,  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  our  people,  for 

*  He  was  exchanged  for  Major  ACKLAND  of  BURGOYNE'S  army,  of  whose  kind 
ness  and  liberal  treatment  of  Williams,  see  an  interesting  account  in  Wilkinson's 
Memoirs,  v.  i.  pp.  376 — 77. — ED 


316  ESCAPE  OF  PRISONERS. 

ever  so  short  a  time,  we  were  ipso  facto  released  from  the 
obligation  of  remaining  with  the  enemy,  notwithstanding  our 
parole  ;  and  it  was  under  this  idea,  combined  with  a  lucky  and 
unexpected  adventure,  that  Forrest  found  himself  a  freeman.  I 
know  not  how  far  this  opinion  of  ours  may  be  conformable  to 
the  jus  belli  as  established  among  nations,  but  it  was  our  deduc 
tion  from  principles,  which  we  held  to  be  correct,  and  of  general 
and  equal  application.  I  think  it  is  also  recognised  in  the  old 
play  of  prison-base,  from  which,  if  the  idea  was  not  original,  it 
is  more  probable  we  derived  it,  than  either  from  Grotius, 
Puffendorf,  or  Vattel.  One  Mariner,  a  New  Yorker,  in  revenge 
for  some  real  or  supposed  ill  treatment  from  Matthews,  the 
mayor  of  that  city,  made  a  descent,  with  a  small  party,  upon  the 
island,  with  the  view  of  getting  Matthews  into  his  clutches,  who, 
as  I  have  already  mentioned,  had  a  house  at  Flatbush,  and 
generally  slept  there.  He  had  it  also  in  view,  to  obtain  the 
release  of  a  Captain  Flahaven,  who  had  been  billetted  in  my 
place,  on  Jacob  Suydam.  Disappointed  in  both  objects,  he 
liberated  Forrest  by  means  of  his  magical  power,  and  made 
prisoners  of  Mr.  Bache  and  Major  Moncrief,  the  latter  of  whom 
spent  much  of  his  time  at  Flatbush,  where  he  had  a  daughter. 
But  I  will  give  the  relation  in  the  words  of  Mr.  Forrest,  who, 
on  my  application  for  the  particulars  of  the  event,  has  thus 
communicated  them  in  answer  to  certain  queries  proposed. 
"  Mariner  was  the  man  who  took  me  from  Long  Island.  He 
was  a  shoemaker,  and  had  been  long  confined  and  cruelly  used, 
as  I  understood,  by  Matthews,  who,  it  seems,  knew  him  person 
ally.  The  name  of  the  officer  who  lodged  with  me  was 
Flahaven,  a  captain,  who  had  been  in  the  provost  with  Mariner, 
and  whom  he  particularly  wished  to  release;  but,  having 
changed  his  quarters,  he  could  not  be  got  at.  Mariner  crossed 
from  the  Jersey  shore,  and  retreated  to,  and  landed  at  the  place 
of  his  departure,  or  near  it,  a  distance  of  two  miles  across.  His 
party  consisted  originally  of  twenty  militia  men,  in  two  flat- 
bottomed  boats.  At  his  landing  on  Long  Island,  he  left  his  two 
boats  under  the  guard  of  five  men,  while  he  visited  the  interior ; 
but  these  five,  hearing  a  firing,  which  was  kept  up  upon  us  by 


ESCAPE  OF  PRISONERS.  317 

the  Flatbush  guard,  while  we  were  taking  our  prisoners,  con 
cluded  that  Mariner  was  defeated  and  taken;  so,  without  further 
ceremony,  they  took  one  of  the  boats  and  made  their  escape. 
The  other  boat,  as  we  reached  the  shore,  was  just  going  adrift: 
we  were  much  crowded  in  her,  but  it  fortunately  was  very  calm, 
otherwise  we  could  not  have  weathered  it.  Matthews  was  on 
the  top  of  his  house,  at  the  time  of  the  search  for  him.  We  got, 
from  our  place  of  landing,  in  wagons,  to  Princeton.  Mr.  Bache 
and  Moncrief  lodged  there  in  the  same  house  with  me  for  two 
or  three  days.  How  they  were  disposed  of  afterwards,  I  do 
not  know,  as  I  was  sent  on  with  an  explanatory  letter  from 
Governor  Livingston  to  General  Washington  ;  but  Bache  I  think 
was  sent  home  shortly,  and  Moncrief  also,  (who  was  a  good 
prize,)  as  a  prisoner  on  parole.  Mariner's  party  must  have 
stayed  at  Flatbush  nearly  two  hours,  for  they  were  there  some 
time  before  the  alarm  was  taken,  and  there  was  afterwards  time 
to  despatch  an  express  to  Brooklyn  for  assistance,  and  the  rein 
forcement  which  came  in  consequence,  was  pretty  close  upon 
us,  as  we  could  see  them  on  the  shore,  when  we  had  left  it  about 
a  quarter  of  an  hour.  This  happened  on  the  15th  of  June, 
1778,  the  very  day  two  years,  I  had  marched  from  Phila 
delphia." 

From  this  episode  it  appears,  that  the  moral  of  ^Esop's  fable, 
respecting  the  eagle  at  the  top  of  the  tree,  that,  by  the  law  of 
power,  had  made  free  with  the  fox's  whelps  below,  was  very 
near  being  brought  home  to  Mr.  Matthews.  Mr.  Bache,  as 
Forrest  has  told  me,  was  overwhelmed  with  his  disaster;  and 
interceded  with  him,  as,  from  his  civility  to  us,  he  had  a  right 
to  do,  for  his  good  offices  with  Governor  Livingston,  which,  I 
have  no  doubt,  were  duly  exerted  for  him.  Major  Moncrief, 
like  an  old  soldier,  submitted  with  a  more  equal  mind  to  the 
fortune  of  war,  reminding  Bache,  that  he  had  often  told  him, 
they  were  not  safe  at  Flatbush.  But  Bache  had  peculiar  cause 
for  dejection,  on  account  of  the  consternation,  into  which  his 
wife  and  children  had  been  thrown  by  the  attack  of  his  house, 
and  his  being  forcibly  seized  and  borne  away  in  the  dead  of  the 
night.  Upon  delivering  Governor  Livingston's  letter  to  General 

27* 


318  ESCAPE  OF  PRISONERS GENERAL  EXCHANGE. 

Washington,  Forrest  stated  the  circumstances  under  which  he 
had  come  out,  and  had  conceived  himself  liberated,  but  added, 
that  if  the  act  did  not  meet  his  Excellency's  entire  approbation, 
he  begged  to  be  permitted  to  return  immediately  to  New  York. 
The  General  observed,  that  it  was  a  nice  case,  on  which,  much 
might  be  said  on  both  sides,  but  that,  at  any  rate,  a  return  to 
confinement  was  unnecessary ;  that  he  was  at  liberty  to  go 
home,  and  that,  if  upon  consideration,  he  should  be  of  opinion, 
that  the  mode  of  his  release  was  not  warranted  by  the  rules  and 
usages  of  war,  a  prisoner  of  equal  rank  should  be  exchanged 
for  him.  Not  long  after  this  enterprise  of  Mariner,  a  general 
exchange  of  prisoners  took  place,  and  all  were  put  upon  an 
equal  footing.  To  beguile  the  tedious  hours  of  captivity,  Colonel 
Magaw  had  taken  to  himself  a  wife,  as  had  one  or  two  others. 
A  policy  had  arisen  from  the  pressure  of  our  affairs,  to  give 
every  man  a  commission  who  was  likely  to  pick  up  a  few  re 
cruits.  This,  at  least,  was  the  case  in  Pennsylvania;  hence, 
as  to  officers,  all  the  regiments  were  not  only  complete,  but 
overflowing ;  and  upon  the  reorganization  of  the  army,  there 
were  a  great  many  supernumerary.  Of  this  description,  those 
who  had  been  taken  at  Fort  Washington,  emphatically  were. 
They  were  considered  as  extinct ;  and  their  places  had  been 
supplied  by  others.  A  show,  indeed,  was  made  in  the  fall  of 
1778,  of  doing  justice  to  their  claims,  so  far  as  it  might  be  prac 
ticable.  But  it  was  evident,  that  a  reinstatement  in  the  rank  to 
which  they  were  entitled  by  the  rule  of  seniority,  was  not  to  be 
effected  without  extreme  embarrassment,  and  injury  to  the  Ser 
vice.  A  very  few,  who  had  been  willing  to  engage  in  the 
scramble,  had  been  retained ;  but  none  without  the  chagrin  of 
seeing  new  men,  and  numbers  who  had  originally  ranked  below 
them,  now  above  them.  Captain  Tudor  contrived  to  squeeze 
in,  as  did  also  Captain  Biles ;  and  I  do  not  recollect  another  of 
our  regiment,  except  Bitting,  who  was  provided  for.  He  was 
a  second  Lieutenant  with  us,  and  lost  his  life  in  the  rank  of  a 
Captain,  at  the  time  of  the  mutiny  in  the  Pennsylvania  line.  In 
Marshall's  Life  of  Washington,  he  is  erroneously  called  Billing. 
But  on  consideration,  I  rather  think,  that  Bitting  had  not  been 


SUPERNUMERARY  OFFICERS.  319 

a  prisoner ;  and  if  so,  he  is  no  exception  to  the  general  exclu 
sion,  and  his  advance  in  rank  is  naturally  accounted  for.  He 
was  at  liberty  to  attend  to  his  interests.  I  never  applied  for 
reinstatement ;  but,  had  my  country  really  wanted  my  services, 
and  there  had  been  an  opening,  in  which  I  could  have  been  pro 
vided  for,  without  too  much  degradation,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say, 
that  I  should  have  laid  aside  all  private  considerations,  and  em 
braced  it.  To  show,  that  I  do  not  exaggerate  the  difficulties 
which  opposed  a  continuance  in  the  army,  I  shall  content  my 
self  with  referring  to  two  letters  of  General  Washington  upon 
the  subject.  In  the  first,  dated  the  10th  of  November,  1777, 
addressed  to  Congress,  he  says  :  "  Among  the  various  difficulties 
attending  the  army,  the  adjustment  of  rank  is  not  the  least. 
This,  owing  to  the  several  modes,  the  several  principles  that 
have  prevailed  in  granting  commissions,  is  involved  in  great 
perplexity.  The  officers  of  the  Pennsylvania  troops  are  in 
much  confusion  about  it :  in  many  instances,  those  who  were 
junior  in  rank,  from  local  and  other  circumstances,  have  ob 
tained  commissions  older  in  date  than  those  which  were  granted 
afterwards  to  officers  their  superiors  before.  This,  with  many 
other  irregularities,  has  been,  and  is,  the  cause  of  great  uneasi 
ness  ;  and  though  precedency  of  rank,  so  claimed,  should  not  be 
supported  in  justice,  or  upon  any  principle,  we  find  all,  having 
the  least  pretence  for  the  title,  strenuous  to  support  it,  and  wil 
ling  to  hold  a  superiority."  In  the  second  letter,  dated  August 
21st,  1778,  relating  to  the  restoration  of  Colonel  Rawlings,  who 
had  presented  a  memorial  in  behalf  of  himself  and  the  officers 
of  his  corps,  after  doing  ample  justice  to  their  bravery  at  Fort 
Washington,  he  says :  "  It  seems  hard  that  officers  of  their 
merit  should  be  overlooked ;  and  a  loss  to  the  service,  that  they 
should  remain  unemployed  :  but,  the  consequences  that  would 
attend  their  incorporation  with  any  of  the  corps  now  existing, 
appear  too  disagreeable  to  try  the  experiment."  A  conviction 
of  the  existence  of  these  obstacles,  concurring  with  motives  of 
a  private  nature,  induced  me  to  renounce  the  soldier's  trade ; 
but  not  without  poignantly  regretting  my  "  occupation  gone," 
as  often  as  "  the  spirit-stirring  drum,"  or  other  "  circumstance 
of  glorious  war,"  reminded  me  of  the  deprivation. 


320          GENERALS  WASHINGTON  AND  CHARLES  LEE. 

The  bitter  animosity  of  General  Lee*  to  the  Commander  in 
Chief  after  the  affair  of  Monmouth,  is  well  known.  There  were 
not  wanting  a  good  number,  who  thought  he  had  been  hardly 
dealt  with ;  and,  with  these,  added  to  many  that  had  real  or 
imaginary  grounds  for  discontent,  and  the  still  greater  number, 
who  already  saw  in  Washington  a  character  and  influence, 
which  might  give  a  check  to  the  democratic  career  they  had 
in  contemplation,  he  was  in  hopes  of  being  able  to  form  a  party. 
About  this  time,  being  in  Philadelphia,  I  had  the  pleasure,  one 
day,  of  meeting  my  old  friend  Edwards  in  the  street.  He  was 
now  the  aide-de-camp  of  General  Lee,  with  the  rank  of  Major. 
He  was  lavish  in  the  praise  of  his  General,  whom  he  spoke  of 
as  one  writh  whose  conversation,  abounding  with  W7it  and  in 
struction,  I  could  not  but  be  delighted ;  and  proposed  taking  me 
to  dine  with  him  that  very  day.  While  we  were  yet  upon  his 

*  GENERAL  CHARLES  LEE  was  born  in  England,  was  a  soldier  of  fortune,  and  a 
citizen  of  the  world.  He  was  the  third  major-general  appointed  by  Congress.  He 
was  a  man  of  ardent  temperament,  independent  in  thought  and  action,  and  very 
ambitious.  He  so  far  imposed  upon  the  credulity  of  Mr.  Thomas  Rodney,  of 
Delaware,  as  to  induce  him  to  believe  that  he  was  the  author  of  the  "  Letters  of 
Junius."  Twenty  years  after  the  death  of  Lee,  Mr.  Rodney  thus  communicated 
this  important  confession  to  the  public  : 

"  General  Lee  said  there  was  not  a  man  in  the  world,  no,  not  even  Woodfall, 
the  publisher,  that  knew  who  the  author  was ;  that  the  secret  rested  wholly  with 
himself,  and  for  ever  would  remain  with  him.  Feeling  in  some  degree  surprised 
at  this  unexpected  declaration,  after  pausing  a  little,  I  replied,  *  No,  General  Lee, 
if  you  certainly  know  what  you  have  affirmed,  it  can  no  longer  remain  solely  with 
him ;  for  certainly  no  one  could  know  what  you  have  affirmed  but  the  author  him- 
self.'  Recollecting  himself,  he  replied,  '  I  have  unguardedly  committed  myself, 
and  it  would  be  but  folly  to  deny  to  you  that  I  am  the  author;  but  I  must  request 
you  will  not  reveal  it  during  my  life  ;  for  it  never  was,  nor  ever  will  be,  revealed  by 
me  to  any  other.'  He  then  proceeded  to  mention  several  circumstances  to  verify  his 
being  the  author,  and,  among  them,  that  of  his  going  over  to  the  Continent,  and 
absenting  himself  from  England  the  most  of  the  time  in  which  these  letters  were 
published  in  London.  This  he  thought  necessary,  lest  by  some  accident  the 
author  should  become  known,  or  at  least  suspected,  which  might  have  been  his 
ruin."  He  died  in  Philadelphia,  on  the  2d  of  October,  1782,  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
one.  In  his  delirium,  the  last  words  he  was  heard  to  utter  were,  "  Stand  by  me, 
my  brave  grenadiers  !"  He  had  previously  expressed  a  wish  "  not  to  be  buried 
within  a  mile  of  Presbyterian  ground— as  he  would,  otherwise,  be  too  near  very 
bad  company  !"  He  was  buried  in  Christ  Church  Cemetery,  in  Second  Street  on 
the  south  side  of  the  Church.  See  Appendix  (L).— ED. 


GENERALS  WASHINGTON  AND  CHARLES  LEE.  321 

subject,  the  General  appeared  on  the  other  side  of  the  street, 
and,  crossing  over  to  us,  I  had  the  honour  of  be in^  presented  to 
him.  He  soon,  however,  marred  Edwards's  proposal  of  dining 
at  his  quarters,  by  asking  where  he  dined,  and  giving  him  to 
understand,  that  he,  the  General,  did  not  dine  at  home.  Whether 
he  was  now  in  one  of  his  saving  moods,  to  which  he  was  said 
to  be  occasionally  addicted,  and  only  meant  this  as  a  ruse  de 
guerre  to  keep  the  war  from  his  own  territories,  I  know  not,  but 
certain  it  is,  that  Edwards  had  calculated  upon  a  different 
arrangement,  and  fully  expected  to  have  owed  his  dinner  of  the 
day  to  the  cook  of  his  General.  After  a  few  minutes'  conversa 
tion,  I  left  him,  but  not  before  agreeing  with  Edwards  upon  a 
time  and  place  of  meeting  next  day. 

The  life  of  General  Lee,  as  presented  in  the  volume  pub 
lished  by  one  of  his  friends,  under  the  title  of  Memoirs,  holds 
out  very  salutary  instruction  to  factious  and  discontented  spi 
rits.*  Though  he  commences  his  career  among  us,  as  an 
American  and  a  democrat,  he  at  length  subsides  in  the  Eng 
lishman  and  aristocrat.  He  finds  out  that  he  has  kept  very 
bad  company  in  America ;  and  that  her  independence,  which 
he  has  been  among  the  most  ardent  to  promote,  will  be  a  curse 
rather  than  a  blessing  to  her.  Washington,  to  him,  becomes 
another  George  the  Third ;  and  his  *  earwigs,'  courtiers  as  cor 
rupt  as  those  of  any  sceptred  calf,  irolf,  hog,  or  ass ;  to  use  the 
language  of  his  letter  to  Dr.  Rush.  It  must  be  confessed, 
however,  that  if  he  acted  to  the  best  of  his  judgment  at  Mon- 
mouth,  his  treatment  is  to  be  lamented,  as  a  hard  and  ungener 
ous  return  for  the  zeal  he  once  manifested  in  our  cause.  But 
his  conduct  in  this  affair,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  betrays  a  total 
want  of  American  feeling.  Having,  in  the  latter  part  of  his 
captivity,  been  treated  with  attention  by  the  British  officers,  his 
old  discontents  appear  to  have  been  effaced  by  the  greater 
poignancy  of  new  ones ;  and  if,  as  has  been  asserted,  he  ex- 


*  The  LIFE  OF  LEE,  by  Mr.  SPARKS,  in  the  8th  volume  of  the  new  series  of  "The 
Library  of  American  Biography,"  published  in  1846,  may  also  be  strongly  recom 
mended.  It  is  the  most  satisfactory  account  of  this  erratic  genius  that  has  yet 
appeared,  and  is  exceedingly  interesting  and  well  written. — ED. 


322  CHARACTER  OF  LEE. 

claimed  in  the  hearing  of  his  troops,  that  "  the  British  grena 
diers  never  run,"  it  would  almost  seem  a  sufficient  ground  to 
convict  him  of  disaffection,  if  not  treachery.  I  shall  not,  how 
ever,  impute  them  to  him  ;  neither  am  I  prepared  to  say,  that 
his  conduct  was  unmilitary.  I  would  rather  suppose,  if  he 
committed  a  fault,  it  was  because  he  was  too  respectful  of  the 
enemy;  and  that  he  was  too  scientific,  too  much  of  a  reasoner 
for  a  merely  executive  officer ;  "  for  action  too  refined,"  as 
Pope  says,  or  as  Voltaire  expresses  it : 

Mais  souvent  il  se  trompc  a  force  de  prudence, 
II  est  irrcsolu  par  trop  de  prevoyance, 
Moins  agissant  qu'habile. —  * 

As  to  his  early  republicanism,  and  fancied  attachment  to 
liberty  and  the  rights  of  man,  there  is  no  reason  to  think  him 
insincere.  That  he  cordially  detested,  at  least,  the  courtly  arts, 
for  which  he  had  not  temper ;  and  in  whose  career,  if  he  ever 
tried  it,  he  had  been  far  outstripped  by  more  pliant  competitors, 
I  have  not  the  smallest  doubt ;  but,  if  he  supposed,  by  an  ex 
change  of  the  sovereign  one  for  the  sovereign  many,  he  was  to 
restore  the  reign  of  manly  candour  and  blunt  honesty,  how 
much,  how  very  much,  alas,  was  he  deceived ! 

With  all  his  abilities  and  acquaintance  with  the  polite  world, 
the  General  was  certainly  a  very  indiscreet  man,  with  little 
dignity  of  character :  witness  the  frequent  scrapes  he  got  into, 
and  particularly  the  ridiculous  one  with  Miss  Franks,  in  which, 
the  most  complete  success  of  the  jeu  d'esprit  could  have  added 
nothing  to  the  fame  of  the  major-general.j- 

In  my  interview  with  Edwards  the  next  day,  he  gave  me  a 
number  of  military  anecdotes,  and  let  me  into  the  state  of  par 
ties  in  the  army.  As  might  be  supposed,  he  was  a  warm  par 
tisan  of  Lee,  though  at  the  same  time,  expressing  great  respect 
for  the  virtues  of  the  Commander-in-chief.  Among  other  things, 
he  gave  me  the  details  of  Lee's  quarrel  with  Mr.  William  Henry 


*  See  Appendix  M. — ED. 

t  See  Appendix  N.  for  the  particulars  of  this  affair. — ED. 


CHARACTER  OF  LEE DRAYTON.  323 

Drayton,*  repeating  the  words  of  the  letter  of  defiance,  of 
which  he  was  the  bearer,  and  in  which  Mr.  Drayton  is  sarcas 
tically  represented  as  a  mere  Malvolio,  &c. — also,  of  the  duel 
with  Colonel  Laurens,  in  which  he  acted  as  the  second  or 
friend  of  Lee.  Colonel  Laurens  and  his  attendant,  Colonel 
Hamilton,  were,  it  seems,  rather  late  in  coming  to  the  ground. 
During  the  delay  produced  by  this  circumstance,  Edwards 
took  occasion  to  amuse  his  Principal,  if  amusement  it  might  be 
called,  with  some  metaphysical  subtilties  on  predestination, 
free  will,  &c.,  a  little  in  the  style  of  the  disquisition  of  the 
Brissotines  on  a  future  state,  when  on  their  way  to  the  guillo 
tine.  From  want  of  punctuality  in  the  adversaries,  he  also 
suggested,  that  they  might  not  come  at  all ;  but  Lee  replied, 
there  was  no  danger  of  that,  as  Colonel  Laurens  was  a  man 
of  unquestionable  bravery ;  and  the  observation  was  imme 
diately  verified  by  his  appearance.f  The  manner  of  fighting 
was  somewhat  new;  and,  if  I  arn  not  mistaken,  it  was  on  Lee's 
suggestion  it  was  adopted.  Taking  their  ground  and  facing 
each  other,  it  was  agreed,  that  either  should  fire  when  he 

*  This  eminent  citizen  was  cut  off  in  the  midst  of  his  useful  and  brilliant 
career,  at  an  early  stage  of  the  Revolution.  He  died  in  Philadelphia,  September, 
1779,  in  his  thirty-seventh  year.  WILLIAM  HENRY  DRAYTON,  of  South  Carolina, 
was  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  active  defenders  of  the  liberties  of  his  country, 
in  the  first  stages  of  the  revolutionary  movements.  His  writings  contributed 
equally  to  enlighten  the  public  mind,  and  enforce  the  claims  of  justice.  A  charge 
to  the,  Grand  Jury  of  Charleston,  delivered  by  him  as  Chief  Justice  of  South  Caro 
lina,  on  the  23d  of  April,  1776,  is  one  of  the  most  important  historical  documents 
of  that  period,  whether  considered  in  regard  to  the  facts  it  contains,  or  the  force 
of  its  arguments.  He  was  an  efficient  member  of  Congress,  and  was  conspicuous 
for  the  part  he  took  in  counteracting  the  objects  of  the  British  Commissioners,  by 
several  spirited  and  well-written  essays  in  the  newspapers. — See  Draytori's  Me 
moirs,  and  Sparks'  Writings  of  Washington,  vol.  v.  p.  439. 

Mr.  JEFFERSON  was  indebted  almost  as  much  to  JUDGE  DRAYTON'S  celebrated 
"Charge,"  as  he  was  to  the  patriotic  and  spirited  citizens  of  Mecklenburgh,  for 
the  sentiments  and  much  of  the  language  of  the  "  Declaration  of  Independence," 
that  enduring  monument  at  once  of  patriotism,  and  of  genius  and  skill  in  the  art 
of  appropriation  ! — ED. 

t  For  another  purpose  the  Editor  has  been  kindly  furnished  by  MR.  GEORGE  W. 
P.  CUSTIS,  with  some  interesting  particulars  in  relation  to  this  gallant  officer,  which, 
as  they  will  bear  repetition,  he  has  placed  in  the  Appendix,  to  which  the  reader  is 
referred.  See  Appendix  O. — ED. 


324  MILITARY  ANECDOTES LAURENS. 

thought  proper.  Accordingly  they  both  advanced,  and  the 
effect  was,  that  at  the  same  instant,  each  presented  and  drew 
the  trigger.  Colonel  Laurens'  ball  grazed  the  side  of  General 
Lee,  carrying  away  some  flesh  and  producing  a  considerable 
effusion  of  blood.  The  Principals  proposed  another  shot,  but 
the  Seconds  agreed  that  enough  had  been  done;  and  so  the 
affair  ended,  without  the  smallest  bearing,  however,  on  the 
point  in  controversy,  to  wit,  whether  General  Lee  was  right 
or  wrong  in  speaking  reproachfully  of  the  Commander-in-chief; 
and  only  establishing  the  fact,  that  the  combatants  could  risk 
their  lives  with  the  gallantry  and  self-possession  of  soldiers  and 
men  of  honour.* 

Major  Edwards  further  gave  me  the  particulars  of  a  similar 
affair,  in  which  he  himself  had  been  concerned  as  principal  in  Ca 
rolina  ;  and,  in  which,  the  small  knowledge  he  had  derived  from 
me,  in  the  noble  science  of  fencing,  had  enabled  him  to  triumph 
over  an  adversary,  who  thought  to  obtain  an  advantage  of  him 
by  commuting  the  pistol,  with  which  it  had  been  at  first  agreed 
to  fight,  for  the  small  sword.  His  skill  in  the  weapon  was  not, 
indeed,  brought  to  the  test ;  but  the  readiness  he  evinced  to  put 
it  to  issue,  induced  his  prevaricating  opponent  to  succumb  and 
make  him  concessions. 

From  his  aptitude  to  take  the  tone  of  good  company,  and  his 

*  Had  not  this  "fact"  been  well  "established"  before?  History  informs  us 
that  it  had;  and  if  it  were  untrue,  the  hostile  meeting  here  referred  to,  cannot  fairly 
be  cited  in  verification.  Although  brave  men,  as  in  this  instance  particularly, 
have  resorted  to  this  mode  of  adjusting  their  difficulties,  many  a  poltroon  has  been 
forced,  sadly  against  his  own  volition,  into  this  position  of  "  honour"  There  can 
be  nothing  more  insanely  absurd  than  the  condescension  of  men,  especially  those  of 
unquestionable  reputation  for  courage,  to  this  savage  and  senseless  mode  of  "esta 
blishing  the  fact ;"  and  it  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  such,  men,  at  least,  should 
be  deficient  in  the  greater  courage  to  resist  and  defy  the  customs  and  requisitions 
of  society,  when— as  is  too  often  the  case— they  are  at  variance  with  the  solemn 
and  imperative  requisitions  of  the  laws  of  GOD. 

A  clever  anecdote  has  been  related  of  General  ADAIR.  A  young  officer  con- 
ceiving  himself  aggrieved,  challenged  the  veteran,  who  took  no  notice  of  the 
matter.  A  second  note  was  the  consequence,  in  which  ADAIR  was  informed,  that 
if  "  satisfaction"  were  not  accorded,  he  would  "  post"  him  as  a  coward  !  The 
General  then  replied,  in  substance,  that  he  might  proceed,  but  assuredly  in  so 
doing  he  would  " post"  himself  a  "/ooZ  and  a  liar"  as  certainly  no  man  would 
believe  him. — ED. 


WANTON  OPPRESSION MR.  PARVIN.  325 

close  intimacy  with  Lee,  whose  manners  and  phraseology  were 
in  the  style  of  the  highest  military  school,  this  gentleman,  whose 
first  appearance  had  been  so  unpromising,  had  become  a  distin 
guished  proficient  in  all  the  cavalier  airs  and  "  convenient 
seeming"  of  a  man  of  the  sword ;  of  which  the  favour  of  Lee, 
in  selecting  him  for  his  second  in  his  duels,  may  be  considered 
as  a  proof:  as  the  devising  to  him  a  third  part  of  his  landed 
estate  in  Virginia,  may  be  taken  as  a  voucher  for  his  satisfac 
tion  with  him,  in  the  capacity  of  his  aide-de-camp. 

As  soon  as  it  was  understood  at  Reading,  that  I  was  no 
longer  in  the  army,  care  was  taken  to  have  me  enrolled  in  the 
militia  ;  and  for  declining  to  perform  a  tour  of  duty,  which  was 
immediately  imposed  upon  me,  I  found  myself  fined  in  a  sum, 
which  I  do  not  now  recollect,  but  which,  when  reduced  to 
specie,  was  far  from  inconsiderable.  I  must  confess,  I  consi 
dered  this  as  very  unfair  treatment,  and  accordingly,  submitted 
my  case  in  a  memorial  to  President  Reed,  who  shortly  after 
came  to  Reading,  in  consequence  of  a  proclaimed  intention  to 
visit  the  different  parts  of  the  State,  for  the  purpose  of  hearing 
and  redressing  grievances.  I  was  not  at  home  when  he  arrived, 
but  had  left  my  memorial  with  a  friend  to  be  presented  to  him. 
It  was  very  favourably  received,  the  gentleman  who  delivered 
it,  being  instructed  to  inform  me,  that  the  President  would  have 
been  glad  to  have  seen  me  at  Reading :  that  he  considered  the 
fine  which  had  been  imposed  upon  me,  very  improper,  and  that 
he  would  do  what  he  could  to  prevent  its  exaction.  His  inter 
position  proved  effectual ;  and  I  had  no  further  molestation 
from  the  militia-men. 

During  the  high-handed  game,  that  was  at  this  time  playing 
by  that  description  of  patriots,  who,  from  their  close  adherence 
to  their  homes,  might  emphatically  be  said  to  be  fighting  pro 
focis,  a  Mr.  Thomas  Parvin,  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  was  an 
object  of  much  wanton  oppression.  He  resided  at  Maiden 
Creek,  about  six  miles  from  Reading,  and  was  nearly  broken  up 
by  the  levies  on  his  property  for  taxes  and  militia  fines.  A  cow 
or  a  horse,  for  instance,  was  often  taken  and  sold  for  some  tri 
fling  demand,  and  no  surplus  returned.  Having  sons  grown  up, 
and  enrolled  in  the  militia,  he  was  the  more  exposed  to  rapacity. 
He  frequently  came  to  my  mother's,  to  vend  some  product  of 
28 


326          QUAKER  OPINIONS  OF  WAR MR.  BENEZET. 

his  farm,  and  talking  with  him  one  day,  on  the  subject  of  his 
grievances,  I  was  drawn  into  a  discussion  of  the  non-resisting 
principles  of  his  sect ;  and  urging  their  impracticability  in  the 
present  state  of  the  world,  in  a  manner  that  discovered  sym 
pathy  for  his  sufferings,  he  was  not  displeased,  and  proposed 
lending  me  a  treatise  in  defence  of  their  tenets,  which  he  begged 
I  would  read  and  give  him  my  opinion  of.  In  a  few  days,  he  ac 
cordingly  sent  it,  accompanied  with  a  very  long  letter,  so  ac 
curately  written  in  all  respects,  as  to  convince  me  that  Mr. 
Parvin  was  a  well-educated  man  and  no  mean  polemic.  In 
compliance  with  his  request,  after  reading  his  pamphlet,  I  gave 
him  pretty  fully  my  observations  in  writing ;  and  here,  I  con 
cluded  the  discussion  would  terminate.  In  a  few  weeks  after 
wards,  however,  I  found  it  renewed  in  a  letter  from  Anthony 
Benezet  of  Philadelphia.*  This  pious  and  truly  benevolent 
man,  thus  explains  in  his  first  sentence,  the  cause  of  his  ad 
dressing  me : 
"  Esteemed  Friend, 

"  My  friend  Thomas  Parvin  having  communicated  to  me,  thy 
remarks  with  respect  to  the  sentiments  many  in  our  Society 
hold  in  the  case  of  war,  I  found  my  mind  drawn  affectionately 
to  salute  thee,  and  take  the  liberty  to  enclose  thee  a  collection 
of  religious  tracts,  which,  I  have,  at  different  times  been  instru 
mental  in  publishing."  And  he  is  further  pleased  to  say — "I 
am  persuaded,  that  to  a  man  of  thy  generous  turn  of  mind, 
many  of  the  sentiments  will  not  be  disagreeable,  particularly 
the  extract  from  the  writings  of  Soame  Jenyns,"  &c. — This 
was  an  extract  from  his  View  of  the  Internal  Evidence  of  the 
Christian  Religion.  There  were  several  other  tracts  in  the 
volume,  one  of  which,  A  Letter  from  Elizabeth  Webb  to  An 
thony  William  Boehm,  Mr.  Benezet  adds,  "  I  think  might  prove 
agreeable  to  thy  mother  and  aunt,  whom  I  affectionately  salute." 
As  it  is  not  my  intention  to  lead  the  reader  into  the  subject  of 
this  correspondence,  it  is  enough  to  have  barely  stated  it ;  and 

*  ANTHONY  BENEZET  was  a  native  of  France.  His  parents  were  Huguenots, 
and  came  to  Philadelphia  in  1731.  His  first  employment  was  that  of  a  teacher  at 
Germantown.  He  was  particularly  distinguished  for  his  general  philanthropy, 
and  ardent  opposition  to  the  slave  trade.  He  became  a  Quaker,  and  died  at 
Philadelphia  in  May  1784,  at  the  age  of  71  years.— ED. 


MR.  IZARD CAPTAIN  GADSDEN.  327 

it  appears  to  me,  that  I  should  have  been  wanting  to  myself, 
had  I  suppressed  an  occurrence,  which  procured  me  the  good 
opinion  of  these  plain,  but  innoxious,  intelligent,  and  pious  men. 
In  the  summer  'probably  of  1782  or  '83,  or  thereabouts,  Mr. 
Ralph  Izard,  and  Captain  Gadsden,  of  South  Carolina,  being  on 
a  tour  through  Pennsylvania,  brought  me  a  letter  of  introduc 
tion  from  Colonel  Magaw,  at  Carlisle.  Being  desirous  to  render 
them  all  the  attention  in  my  power,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  often 
being  with  them.  Captain  Gadsden  was  a  young  man,  who 
had  perhaps  never  been  out  of  America  ;  but  Mr.  Izard,  who 
was  advanced  in  years,  had  spent  much  of  his  time  in  Europe, 
and  was  very  entertaining  on  the  subject  of  his  travels  ;  giving 
me,  among  other  things,  a  more  satisfactory  account  of  the 
awful  wonders  of  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum,  than  I  had  yet 
received.  His  manner,  though  blunt,  announced  the  style  of 
the  best  company ;  and  though  one  of  those  who  deliver  their 
opinions  with  freedom  and  decision,  he  seemed  untinctured 
with  asperity  upon  every  subject  but  one ;  but  this  never  failed 
to  produce  some  excitement,  and  his  tone  ever  derived  anima 
tion  from  the  name  of  Dr.  Franklin.*  When,  therefore,  the 
Doctor's  daughter,  Mrs.  Bache,  in  speaking  of  the  Carolinians, 
said,  that  "  she  hated  them  all  from  B  to  Z,"  the  saying,  I  pre 
sume,  must  be  taken  inclusively;  since,  though  I  know  nothing 
of  the  sentiments  of  Mr.  Bee,  I  am  enabled  to  pronounce  those 
of  Mr.  Izard  to  have  been  anti-Franklinian  in  the  extreme. 
What  cause  he  had  for  this,  I  do  not  know,  but  he  certainly 
lost  no  opportunity  of  inveighing  against  the  philosopher,  to 
whom,  he  said,  he  had  once  been  warmly  attached,  and  had 

*  MR.  IZARD  had  been  in  France,  and  on  his  return  "  complained  that  Dr. 
Franklin  neglected  to  make  proper  representations  to  the  French  Ministry."  He 
deemed  it  necessary  to  alarm  the  French  Government  with  the  danger  of  the 
United  States  falling  into  the  hands  of  England,  unless  she  would  contribute 
largely  to  the  support  of  the  Republican  cause.  Count  de  Vergennes  upon  hearing 
of  these  statements,  declared  that  nothing  could  be  more  pernicious  than  to  attempt 
to  alarm  the  French  Government  with  false  and  exaggerated  accounts.  And  in 
his  letter  to  LUZERNE  the  French  Minister  at  Philadelphia,  he  writes,  "  I  flatter 
myself,  that  these  marks  of  regard  will  be  understood  by  the  patriots,  and  will 
destroy  any  prepossessions,  which  the  ill-advised  language  of  Mr.  Izard  and  Mr. 
Arthur  Lee  may  have  produced." — Sparks'  Writings  of  Washington,  vol.  vii. 

ED. 


328  DR.  FRANKLIN. 

attended  as  his  friend,  at  the  time  he  \vas  so  unmercifully 
bespattered  by  Wedderburne.  I  sat  upon  thorns,  said  Izard ; 
and  had  it  been  me,  that  had  been  so  grossly  insulted,  I  should 
instantly  have  repelled  the  attack  in  defiance  of  every  conse 
quence,  whereas,  this  old  man  sat  cowering  like  a  caitiff,  with 
out  daring  to  utter  a  syllable.*  But  in  repeating  the  words,  I 
do  not  join  in  the  reproach  of  the  Doctor's  forbearance.  As  he 
was  not  a  ready  public  speaker,  silence,  was,  perhaps,  most 
prudent  and  dignified.  The  extreme  wariness  of  his  character, 
it  is  true,  is  not  more  congenial  to  my  feelings  than  to  those  of 
Mr.  Izard.  Nevertheless,  when  I  reflect,  that  he  possessed 
qualities,  which  have  not  only  enabled  him  to  extend  the  limits 
of  human  knowledge,  but  have  pre-eminently  entitled  him  to  the 
fame  of  a  wise  man;  that,  to  solidity  of  understanding,  he 
added  the  amenity  of  wit  and  good  humour,  and  that  his  wreight 
and  influence,  so  far  as  I  know,  have  never  been  lent  to  in 
humanity,  immorality,  injustice,  or  oppression,  I  am  entirely 
disposed  to  acquiesce  in  the  award  of  the  world,  and  to  consider 
him  as  one,  who  has  done  honour  to  his  country.  He  died 
before  the  volcanic  explosion  of  the  French  Revolution ;  but,  as 
he  tells  us  in  his  life,  he  had  an  early  and  steady  abhorrence  of 
tyranny,  we  cannot,  without  giving  the  lie  to  this  assertion, 
suppose,  if  he  had  lived,  that  he  could  in  any  event  have  been 
a  jacobin  or  the  fautor  of  a  ferocious  despotism. 

Mr.  George  Lux,  of  Baltimore,  who  had  married  a  daughter 
of  Mr.  Edward  Biddle,  was,  at  this  time,  at  Reading,  and  by 
me,  introduced  to  Mr.  Izard  and  Mr.  Gadsden.  Mr.  Lux  was 
the  greatest  reader  in  a  certain  line,  I  have  ever  known.  His 
historical  knowledge  was  accurate  to  minuteness ;  and  he  seemed 

*  The  forbearance  and  coolness  of  FRANKLIN  on  this  memorable  occasion,  how 
ever  offensive  it  may  have  been  to  MR.  RALPH  IZARD  was  well  understood  and  ap 
preciated  by  much  wiser  heads.  The  following-  letter  quoted  by  Sparks  in  his 
Life  of  FRANKLIN,  p.  370,  from  Dr.  RUSH  to  Mr.  ARTHUR  LEE,"  will  show  the  high 
estimation  in  which  Dr.  FRANKLIN  was  held  by  his  countrymen."  "  There  is  a 
general  union  among  the  colonies  which  no  artifices  of  a  Ministry  will  be  able 
to  break.  DR.  FRANKLIN  is  a  very  popular  character  in  every  part  of  America. 
He  will  be  received,  and  carried  in  triumph  to  his  house,  when  he  arrives  among 
us.  It  is  to  be  hoped  he  will  not  consent  to  hold  any  more  offices  under  govern- 
ment.  No  step  but  this  can  prevent  his  being  handed  down  to  posterity  among 
the  first  and  greatest  characters  in  the  world." — ED. 


VISITERS  AT  READING.      •  329 

intimately  acquainted  with  the  ramifications  and  affinities,  not 
only  of  the  great  families  in  England,  but  also  of  those  on  every 
part  of  the  continent  of  Europe.  Of  these,  he  spoke  with  a 
precision  which  astonished  Mr.  Izard,  particularly  when  he 
learned  that  he  had  never  been  out  of  America.  "  To  what 
purpose  is  it,"  said  he,  when  afterwards  speaking  of  Mr.  Lux, 
"  that  I  have  been  travelling  all  my  life,  when  this  gentleman, 
who  has  never  left  his  armchair,  knows  more  of  the  countries 
I  have  visited  than  I  do ;  and  what  perplexes  me  most  of  all  is, 
that  he  even  knows  better  than  myself,  the  public  business  I  was 
employed  in,  and  which  was  of  a  secret  nature."  But  this 
latter  knowledge  was  obtained  by  Lux's  having  officiated  for 
his  amusement,  (having  nothing  better  to  do,)  as  secretary  to 
the  board  of  Congress,  which  had  regulated  Mr.  Izard's  affair. 
Yet  with  all  this  information,  Mr.  Lux  appeared  to  me  to  pos 
sess  but  a  very  moderate  share  of  judgment  or  discernment,  and 
to  be  little  more  than  a  dry  matter  of  fact  man.  He  had  a 
handsome  paternal  estate  ;  and  at  Chatsworth,  his  seat  near 
Baltimore,  was  in  the  habit  of  entertaining  all  strangers  of  dis 
tinction,  though  so  shamefully  negligent  of  his  person,  which 
was  naturally  none  of  the  best,  as  to  seem  not  at  all  adapted  to 
this  function.  Among  his  guests,  he  was  once  honoured  with 
the  company  of  Mrs.  Macaulay,  the  historian,  whom,  at  her 
request,  as  he  informed  me,  he  accompanied  to  Mount  Vernon, 
on  a  visit  to  General  Washington,  where  they  stayed  some  days. 
While  in  conversation,  one  day  after  dinner,  the  lady,  in  a  high 
republican  strain,  took  occasion  to  expatiate  on  the  vast  advan 
tages  of  rotation  in  office.  This  was  in  the  manner  of  an  ap 
peal  to  her  host,  of  whose  approbation  she  seemed  to  be  secure  ; 
but  as  the  General  was  rather  a  practical  or  accidental,  than  a 
republican  by  preference,  I  will  not  say  a  republican  maJgre  lui,* 

*  It  may  be  safely  averred,  that  a  majority  of  our  best  whigs  of  1776,  were  not 
republicans  by  predilection ;  but  still  the  best  of  practical  republicans,  as  honest 
and  virtuous  men. 

Nothing  can  be  further  from  the  truth  than  the  idea  propagated  for  party  pur 
poses,  that  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  an  option  made  between  the  monar 
chical  and  democratical  form  of  government.  The  measure  was  adopted  with  ex 
treme  reluctance,  as  the  effect  of  dire  necessity  alone,  as  the  only  means  of  uniting 
and  giving  efficiency  to  the  opposition,  and  of  obtaining  foreign  aid  if  it  should  be 

28* 


330  •  MRS.  MACAULAY. 

he  could  only  carry  his  politeness  so  far  as  not  absolutely  to 
dissent  from  the  opinion  ;  and  there  was,  of  course,  no  com 
mingled  flow  of  soul  upon  the  occasion.  But  Mrs.  Macaulay 
was  not  the  only  person  of  her  nation,  who  has  found  the  re 
publicanism  of  the  new  world,  lagging  shamefully  behind  that 
of  the  old.  Experience  is  the  best  of  schools ;  and,  in  the 
philanthropic  science  of  levelling,  as  in  others,  we  may  truly 
say  : 

Here,  shallow  draughts  intoxicate  the  brain, 
And  drinking  largely  sobers  us  again. 

One  of  the  strongest  cases  in  point,  and  which  has  been  strangely 
overlooked,  is  that  of  the  poet  Milton,  against  whom  the  great 
Samuel  Johnson,  is  supposed  to  be  even  more  than  usually  in 
tolerant.  He  certainly  could  not  have  been  aware,  nor  Mr. 
Boswell  either,  (or  from  his  profusion  we  should  have  heard  of 
it)  of  the  following  passage  in  the  Paradise  Regained,  the  last 
work,  and  therefore,  to  be  presumed  to  contain  the  last  and 
most  solemn  opinion  of  its  author. 

necessary — in  short,  as  the  only  alternative  between  subjugation  and  voluntary 
submission.  The  general  sentiment  in  America,  as  the  publications  of  the  era  will 
testify,  was  an  ardent  attachment  to  the  British  Constitution,  and  a  deep  regret  that 
we  were  refused  an  equal  participation  in  its  benefits,  in  common  with  our  fellow- 
subjects  on  the  other  side  of  the  ocean.  This  was  the  constant  language  of  the 
dajr,  both  in  public  and  private  discourses,  in  official  and  in  anonymous  publica 
tions  ;  and  it  was  not  until  a  separation  was  deemed  unavoidable  that  any  attempts 
were  made  to  set  forth  its  advantages.  In  the  same  spirit,  after  having  become  a 
nation,  and  being  invested  with  the  right  of  governing  ourselves,  it  was  the  policy 
of  our  best  and  wisest  men,  alas,  how  fruitless  !  to  check  the  wildness  of  innova 
tion,  and  to  cling  as  much  as  might  be,  to  the  genius  of  the  institutions  under 
which  we  had  enjoyed  our  unexampled  prosperity ;  and  in  the  same  view  to  obli. 
tcrate,  as  soon  as  possible,  the  mutual  animosities  engendered  by  the  unhappy 
contest.  Such  was  the  object  of  WASHINGTON,  JAY,  HAMILTON,  and  other  virtuous 
and  enlightened  statesmen  ;  and  we  have  it  from  Mr.  Burke,  that  even  DR.  FRANKLIN 
whose  name  is  often  used  to  sanction  the  vagaries  of  democracy,  suffered  not  only 
a  sigh,  but  an  expression  of  regret  to  escape  him,  on  account  of  the  happiness  we 
were  about  to  lose  by  our  separation  from  the  mother  country,  (see  his  Appeal  to 
the  Old  Whigs) ;  and  yet  our  post-revolutionary  and  imported  patriots,  would  make 
us  believe  that  the  beginners  of  the  Revolution  were  whigs  after  the  fashion  of 
Thomas  Paine  and  certain  other  European  malccontcnts  and  reformers,  and  our 
first  Congresses  composed  of  Jacobins,  "  as  true  as  ever  snuffed  the  scent  of  blood," 
or  devised  the  expeditious  mode  of  taking  off  the  heads  of  aristocrats  by  the  guil 
lotine. 


MILTON POPULAR  FEELING.  331 

And  what  the  people,  but  a  herd  confus'd, 

A  miscellaneous  rabble,  who  extol 

Things  vulgar,  and  well  weigh'd,  scarce  worth  the  praise: 

They  praise  and  they  admire  they  know  not  what ; 

And  know  not  whom,  but  as  one  leads  the  other ; 

And  what  delight  to  be  by  such  extolled, 

To  live  upon  their  tongues  and  be  their  talk, 

Of  whom  to  be  despised,  were  no  small  praise. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  sentiments  more  at  variance 
with  the  republican  maxim  of  Vox  populi  vox  Dei;  and  yet,  they 
are  the  sentiments  of  the  sublime  poet  John  Milton,  the  demo 
crat,  the  regicide,  the  secretary  and  parasite  of  Oliver  Crom 
well.  From  this  one  man,  we  may  learn  the  character  of  his 
sect,  the  immaculate,  people-adoring  republicans  of  the  present 
hour.  For  the  love  of  liberty,  they  will  kill  a  king ;  yet  fawn 
upon  a  usurper,  clothed  with  a  power  infinitely  less  accountable, 
infinitely  more  oppressive  and  tremendous.  The  crime  then, 
is  not  in  "  one  proud  man's  lording  it  over  the  rest,"*  but  that 
he  should  lord  it  in  opposition  to  our  particular  interests  and 
prejudices.  In  the  direction  of  these,  he  cannot  be  too  high 
handed. 

Party  spirit,  in  Pennsylvania,  had  by  this  time,  taken  a  con 
sistency,  and  the  politicians  were  divided  into  Constitutionalists 
and  Republicans.  The  first  rallied  round  the  constitution  al 
ready  formed,  which  was  reprobated  by  the  others,  for  its  total 
deficiency  in  checks  and  counterbalancing  powers,  thence  tend 
ing,  as  it  was  alleged,  to  rash,  precipitate,  and  oppressive 
proceedings.  The  term  republicans  was  embraced,  as  recog 
nising  the  principles  of  the  revolution,  and  as  indicative  perhaps 
of  tenets,  which  admitted  the  utility  of  modifications  and  re 
straints,  in  a  system  resting  on  the  broad  base  of  general  suf 
frage  and  popular  sovereignty.  The  word  democrat  was  not 
yet  much  in  use,  neither  was  the  distinction  established  between 
a  democrat  and  a  republican,  which  appears  to  consist  in  the 
idea,  that  the  former  is  for  placing  the  whole  governing  power 
in  the  "  multitude  told  by  the  head ;"  the  latter,  for  giving  it 
some  checks,  and  infusing  into  it  a  leaven  of  what  is  termed  by 
Mr.  Burke,  the  natural  aristocracy  of  a  country.  But  to  do 

* Tcrrcs  tot  posse  sub  uno 

Essc  viro.— Lucan. 


332  CONSTITUTIONALISTS  AND  REPUBLICANS. 

this,  where  the  source  of  power  has  been  diligently  explored 
and  discovered  too,  like  that  of  the  Nile,  and  universal  suffrage 
with  the  right  to  pull  down  and  build  up  again,  thence  recog 
nised  as  a  fundamental,  may  well  puzzle  the  learned  advocates 
for  strong  executives,  and  independent  judiciaries,  and  in  the 
end,  perhaps,  turn  all  their  fine-spun  theories  into  lumber,  little 
better  than  nonsense.  However,  like  the  rest  of  my  country 
men, 

With  sad  civility,  I  read, 
With  honest  anguish  and  an  aching  head. 

To  counteract  the  constitutionalists,  the  disaffected  to  the 
revolution  were  invited  to  fall  into  the  republican  ranks ;  and 
there  was  an  agreement,  or  at  least  an  understanding,  among 
the  lawyers,  who  were  generally  on  the  republican  side,  neither 
to  practise  or  accept,  of  any  office  under  the  constitution,  which, 
in  that  case,  they  would  be  bound,  by  an  oath,  to  support.  But 
the  constitutionalists  had  a  Roland  for  their  Oliver.  They  had 
prothonotaryships,  attorney-generalships,  chief  justiceships,  and 
what  not  to  dispose  of.  Patriots  have  their  price,  'tis  said ;  and 
persons  were  found  to  accept  of  these,  some  of  whom,  indeed, 
had  cautiously  avoided  committing  themselves  by  the  promul 
gation  of  rash  anathemas.  All,  however,  were  not  so  fortunate, 
if  fame  is  to  be  believed ;  and  although  the  fruit  was  to  them 
forbidden,  they  were  tempted,  and  did  eat.  But  in  this  age  of 
thrift  and  self-aggrandizement,  I  am  not  going  to  impute  it  to 
them  as  a  crime.  Who  would  now  reject  the  means  of  better 
ing  his  condition,  through  the  childish  fear  of  being  charged 
with  a  dereliction  of  principle  ?  It  is  not  of  such  imbecility  that 
the  world  is  now  "  the  friend,  or  the  world's  law."  Bonaparte 
would  never  have  made  himself  a  consul,  much  less  an  emperor, 
by  such  squeamishness. 

Soon  after  the  organization  of  the  Republican  Society,  it  was 
proposed  to  me  by  my  friend  Major  Scull,  then  in  Philadelphia, 
to  join  it;  but  after  the  recent  agitations  of  the  greater  contest 
with  the  mother  country,  I  felt  no  inclination  to  disturb  myself 
with  domestic  broils.  My  eyes,  indeed,  were  open  to  the  illibe- 
rality  of  the  constitutionalists,  and  the  extreme  jealousy  they 
already  manifested  against  those  who  had  been  in  the  army ; 
but  on  the  other  hand,  so  far  as  I  can  recall  my  feelings,  I  did 


CONSTITUTIONALISTS  AND  REPUBLICANS.  333 

not  fully  relish  the  policy  of  courting  the  disaffected,  and  those 
who  had  played  a  safe  and  calculating  game.  But  they  were 
rewarded  for  it :  pelf,  it  appeared,  was  a  better  goal  than  liberty; 
and  at  no  period  in  my  recollection,  was  the  worship  of 
Mammon  more  widely  spread,  more  sordid  and  disgusting. 
Those  who  had  fought  the  battles  of  the  country,  at  least  in  the 
humbler  grades,  had  as  yet  earned  nothing  but  poverty  and  con 
tempt  ;  while  their  wiser  fellow-citizens  who  had  attended  to 
their  interests,  were  the  men  of  mark  and  consideration.*  As 
to  military  rank,  no  man  seemed  to  be  without  it,  who  had  an 
inclination  for  it;  and  the  title  of  major  was  the  very  lowest  that 
a  dasher  of  any  figure  would  accept  of.  Nothing  more  was 
wanting  for  its  attainment  than  to  clap  on  a  uniform  and  pair 
of  epaulettes,  and  scamper  about  with  some  militia  general  for 
a  day  or  two.  And  thus,  the  real  soldier  was  superseded,  even 
in  the  career  of  glory.  Never  having  been  good  at  a  scramble, 
as  already  observed,  whether  honour  or  profit  were  the  meed,  I 
did  not  press  into  the  field  of  pretension  ;  and  being  in  a  state  of 
apathy  as  to  the  political  parties,  I  declined  enlisting  with  either. 
The  agitations  which  now  prevailed  in  the  capital,  led  to  the 
well-known  outrage  on  Mr.  Wilson,  who,  for  the  exercise  of  his 
professional  duty  as  a  lawyer,  in  behalf  of  certain  persons  who 
had  been  prosecuted  for  treason,  had  been  proscribed  by  the 
mobility.  The  punishment  decreed  for  his  crime,  was  banish 
ment  to  the  enemy,  yet  in  New  York :  and  for  the  purpose  of 
inflicting  it,  an  attack,  by  men  in  arms,  was  made  upon  his 
house,  into  \vhich  a  number  of  his  friends  had  thrown  them 
selves,  with  a  determination  to  resist  the  assailants.  A  few  lives 
were  lost  before  the  tumult  was  suppressed ;  but  as  my  residence 
at  Reading  deprived  me  of  the  means  of  a  personal  knowledge 
of  the  transaction,  it  is  enough  for  me  to  notice  it  as  one  of 
those  which  shows  the  toleration  of  the  vulgar  heart,  and  the 

*  These  assertions  arc  supported  by  sundry  letters  from  General  WASHINGTON 
to  General  REED,  in  which  he  reprobates,  in  strong  language,  the  rage  for  "  money, 
making  speculations."  In  one  dated  December  12th,  1778,  speaking  of  the  officers 
in  the  army,  he  says,  "  resignations  must  cease  to  be  wonderful,  when  it  is  a  fact 
too  notorious  to  be  denied  that  officers  cannot  live  in  the  army  under  present  cir 
cumstances,  whilst  they  see  others  enriching  themselves  in  an  infinity  of  ways. 
These  are  severe  tests  of  public  virtue,  and  should  not  in  point  of  policy,  be  pushed 
too  far." 


334  AUTHOR  OBTAINS  AN  APPOINTMENT. 

idea  it  annexes,  to  what  it  is  pleased  to  term  the  blessings  of 
liberty. 

The  constitution  kept  its  ground  in  defiance  of  its  adversa 
ries;  and  as  it  is  sometimes  easier  to  make  a  pun  than  to  avoid 
it,  it  may  be  said,  that  The  confederates  of  Bar,  were  completely 
foiled  in  their  undertaking.  They  came  over  by  degrees ;  and 
it  at  length  appeared,  that  the  cobweb  ties,  by  which,  they  had 
vainly  flattered  themselves  they  could  pinion  the  love  of  interest, 
had  only  benefited  the  least  scrupulous  of  the  confederates,  who 
like  the  stronger  flies,  had  burst  their  flimsy  fetters,  and  thence, 
dashed  at  the  treacle,  unannoyed  by  competition. 

All  interdiction  to  practice  being  now  removed,  1  found  it 
necessary  once  more  to  open  my  law  books.  I  obtained  admit 
tance  as  an  attorney  in  the  county  of  Berks;  and  was  already 
employed  to  bring  actions  and  defend  them;  but  was  soon 
drawn  from  this  track  by  the  following  incident. 

Among  a  number  of  newly  introduced  maxims  of  republi 
canism,  it  was  a  highly  favoured  one  in  Pennsylvania,  to  bring 
justice  home  to  every  man's  door.  In  the  spirit  of  this  prin 
ciple,  several  new  counties  had  been  erected ;  and  in  the  year 
of  1785,  I  had  the  good  fortune,  through  the  warm  exertions  of 
an  influential  friend,  to  obtain  an  appointment  to  the  Prothono- 
taryship  of  the  county  of  Dauphin.  By  a  combination  of  small 
circumstances  working  together  for  my  advantage,  I  obtained, 
contrary  to  expectation,  the  suffrage  of  the  Supreme  Executive 
Council,  of  which  Mr.  Dickinson  was  then  President.  The 
Republican  party  possessed  a  majority  in  the  Council ;  and 
Colonel  Atlee,  who  belonged  to  it,  was  designated  for  the  office. 
He  was  conspicuous  as  a  party-man,  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  at 
the  time,  a  member  of  the  Legislature ;  and  on  the  score  of 
services  and  character,  no  one  had  better  claims.  But  upon 
this  occasion,  the  negative  character  of  my  politics,  contrary 
to  the  usual  course  of  things,  probably  gave  me  the  advantage. 
To  keep  out  Atlee,  the  constitutionalists  were  disposed  to  give 
their  votes  to  any  one  of  his  competitors.  Of  course,  I  had  all 
their  strength ;  and  by  adding  to  it  two  or  three  republican 
votes,  I  acquired  a  greater  number  than  any  in  nomination.  As 
the  mode  was  to  vote  for  the  candidates  individually,  there  was 
no  physical,  or  perhaps  moral  impediment,  to  each  of  them  re- 


JOHN  DICKINSON.  335 

ceiving  the  vote  of  every  member.  A  promise  to  one,  was  not 
broken,  by  voting  also  for  another,  unless  it  was  exclusively 
made.  The  President  had,  probably,  given  a  promise  to  Colonel 
Atlee  as  well  as  to  myself;  and  considering  me,  perhaps,  as  too 
weak  to  endanger  his  success,  thought  he  might  safely  gratify 
my  friend,  who  pinned  him  to  the  vote,  which,  on  coming  to 
the  box,  he  seemed  half  inclined  to  withhold.  Or,  where  was 
his  crime,  if  he  really  thought  our  pretensions  equal,  and  there 
fore  determined  not  to  decide  between  us?  Such  were  the 
accidents  which  procured  my  unlooked-for  appointment. 

Mr.  Dickinson,  for  his  want  of  decision,  as  it  was  called, 
was  bitterly  inveighed  against  by  his  party ;  and  the  next  day 
at  the  coffee-house,  when  receiving  the  congratulations  of  some 
of  my  acquaintances,  Mr.  Michael  Morgan  O'Brien,  who 
chanced  to  be  present,  and  to  whom  I  was  then  introduced, 
asserted  it  as  a  fact,  that  the  President  had  suffered  his  hand  to 
be  seized  and  crammed  into  the  box  with  a  ticket  for  me ;  "but 
no  matter,"  said  he,  "  you  are  a  clever  fellow,  I  am  told,  and  I 
am  glad  that  you  have  got  the  office."  That  this  gentleman, 
who  had  been  a  short  time  among  us,  should  have  been  so 
furious  a  partisan  in  our  politics,  can  only  be  accounted  for, 
from  his  being  perfectly  in  the  O'Flaherty  style,  and  conse 
quently  a  ready  champion  of  the  cause  of  those  he  was  in  the 
habit  of  associating  with. 

In  the  station  of  President,  Mr.  Dickinson  added  not  much 
to  his  reputation,  in  the  opinion  of  either  of  the  parties.  By  en 
deavouring  to  stand  well  with  both,  he,  unfortunately,  pleased 
neither.  He  had  been  brought  in  by  the  republicans ;  and  had 
soon  after  been  virulently  attacked  by  a  writer  under  the  sig 
nature  of  Valerius,  who  was  no  bad  imitator  of  the  manner  of 
Junius.  Against  the  charges  that  were  urged  against  him,  he 
made  his  own  vindication,  which,  even  by  his  political  friends, 
was  thought  nerveless  and  whining.  Upon  the  expiration  of 
his  term  of  service  as  President  of  Pennsylvania,  he  retired  to 
Wilmington,  in  the  State  of  Delaware,  where  he  became  a 
plain  Quaker,  in  the  principles  of  which  sect,  I  think,  he  had 
been  educated.  But  his  Quakerism  did  not  prevent  his  becom 
ing  President  of  this  State,  as  he  had  before  been  of  Pennsyl- 


336  JOHN  DICKINSON. 

vania.  Neither  did  it,  in  his  old  age,  so  far  withdraw  him 
from  worldly  concerns,  as  to  restrain  his  pen  from  again  dipping 
in  politics,  during  the  progress  of  the  French  Revolution,  with 
the  sublime  virtues  and  benign  influences  of  which,  he  appears  to 
have  been  deeply  and  permanently  smitten :  insomuch  as  to  be 
rendered  so  acceptable  to  the  Jeffersonians,  as  just  before  his 
death,  which  happened  in  the  year  1808,  to  be  held  up  by  them 
as  a  candidate  for  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  United  States.  While  ^  residing  in  the  State  of  Delaware, 
he  seems  always  to  have  been  claimed  by  this  class  of  politi 
cians  ;  and  from  his  Fabius,  which  is  a  curious  jumble  of  irre 
concilable,  abstract  contradiction,  and  philanthropic  inconsist 
ency,  he,  probably,  belonged  to  them.  Like  the  rest  of  the  sect, 
he  is  for  devolving  the  whole  virus  of  the  revolution  on  the 
shoulders  of  Robespierre,  and  his  immediate  colleagues;  and  but 
for  a  few  unlucky  Ifs,  he  is  persuaded,  all  things  would  have  gone 
well.  The  unfortunate  Louis,  he  loves  with  no  less  enthusiasm, 
than  he  does  the  fanatic  multitude,  whose  demoniac  frenzy  sent 
him  to  the  scaffold;  and  he  apostrophizes  the  manes  of  the  dead 
monarch  with  as  much  solemnity  and  pathos,  as  if  his  blood 
had  been  a  banquet  to  the  Federalists,  who, 'it  is  true,  are  wholly 
lost  to  the  morality,  which  would,  with  Fabius,  transfer  the 
gratitude  which  might  have  been  due  to  the  king,  to  those, 
who,  though  not  actually  his  murderers,  do  yet  exultingly 
trample  upon  his  ashes. 

Mr.  Dickinson  was  very  far  from  a  consistent  politician. 
Though  so  little  of  a  republican  at  the  commencement  of  our 
revolution  as  to  boggle  at  independence,  he  became  so  out 
rageous  a  one  in  the  sequel,  as  to  be  an  amateur  of  French 
liberty,  and  in  respect  to  the  parties  in  England,  a  Foxite*  pro- 

*  Many,  I  am  well  aware,  arc  partial  to  Mr.  Fox  as  a  statesman.  His  abilities 
might  have  been  very  great,  but  he  can  hardly  be  called  a  candid,  principled,  and 
virtuous  citizen.  If,  when  he  became  minister,  he  pursued  the  same  policy  that 
Mr.  Pitt  had  done,  it  is  evident  that  his  opposition  to  him  proceeded  from  factious 
and  interested  motives,  under  the  influence  of  which,  he  acted  the  part  of  a  wild 
and  disorganizing  Jacobin.  He  is  said  to  have  been  a  pleasing  companion,  and 
what  is  called  a  good-natured  man,  which  is  generally,  by  the  by,  an  unprincipled 
one.  Refined  virtue  is  indignant  and  somewhat  austere.  Estimating  him,  how- 
ever,  from  his  historical  fragment  of  the  reign  of  James  the  Second,  one  would 
suppose  him  to  have  been  a  humane,  just,  and  generous  man. —  (See  Appendix  P.) 


JOHN  DICKINSON C.  J.  FOX.  337 

fessed.*  To  account  for  this,  for  certainly  there  is  a  glow  of 
sentiment  in  his  writings  which  would  promise  better  things, 
we  must  have  recourse  to  some  casualties  in  his  public  career. 

*  The  successors  of  the  MEN  OF  THE  REVOLUTION  must  be  grateful  for  what  this 
distinguished  gentleman  did,  and  not  indulge  in  feelings  of  dissatisfaction  for  what 
he  omitted  to  do,  especially  as  Mr.  DICKINSON  lived  long  enough,  as  may  be  in- 
ferred  from  his  subsequent  career,  to  regret  the  extreme  moderation  which  charac 
terized  his  proceedings  at  the  period  of  the  DECLARATION.  He  was  like  many 
men  of  whom  we  read,  and  who  at  all  times  abound,  who  are  endowed  with  suffi 
cient  sagacity  to  discern  the  right,  and  with  ample  ability  for  its  assertion  or  de 
fence,  but  who,  either  from  irresolution,  or  a  desire  to  please  all  parties,  are,  at 
the  final  moment,  unfaithful  to  themselves  or  to  great  public  interests  committed 
to  their  charge.  It  cannot  be  supposed  that  Mr.  DICKINSON  designedly  erred,  or 
that  his  motives,  at  any  period,  were  either  sordid  or  unpatriotic.  He  was  a  man 
of  great  elevation  of  character  and  purity  of  conduct ;  but  it  certainly  is  unfortu 
nate  for  his  reputation  that  he  omitted  the  immortal  act  of  affixing  his  signature 
to  the  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.  That  only  was  wanting  to  place  him  in 
the  highest  rank  among  the  Revolutionary  worthies  to  which,  otherwise,  his  dis 
tinguished  abilities  would,  unquestionably,  have  entitled  him.  With  all  his  talents, 
however,  he  lacked  the  great  qualifications  essential  to  the  perfection  of  the  charac 
ter  of  a  real  statesman, — the  promptitude,  decision,  and  boldness  which  nerved  the 
heart  and  the  pen  of  a  HENRY  and  an  ADAMS  ;  and  he  was,  moreover,  not  thoroughly 
weaned  from  habitual  and  hereditary  attachment  to  England ;  or,  perhaps,  not 
sufficiently  disinterested  to  stake  his  honour,  and  life,  and  fortune,  upon  an  issue 
that  it  was,  assuredly,  his  greatest  misfortune  ever  to  have  considered  doubtful,  or 
uncalled  for,  by  the  suicidal  policy  of  an  infatuated  Ministry ; — a  policy,  the  design 
and  inevitable  tendency  of  which  was,  the  degradation  of  his  country,  and  the  con 
sequent  debasement  of  its  citizens.  The  DECLARATION  appears  to  have  surprised 
Mr.  DICKINSON  into  opposition  before  his  mind  could  perceive  that  it  was  unavoid 
able,  or  necessary.  With  the  best  intentions,  he  was,  of  course,  still  under  the 
guidance  of  human  motives ;  and  it  will  be  no  very  violent  exercise  of  charity  to 
yield  the  largest  allowance  for  the  influence  of  early  education,  which  inculcated 
endurance,  and  reverence,  especially  for  the  authority  and  institutions  of  the 
Father-land, — for  constitutional  timidity,  from  which  even  TULLY — glorious  in  other 
attributes, — was  not  exempt;  or  for  a  predilection  for  a  cautious,  temporizing 
policy  which  looked  rather  to  a  tardy  and  peaceful  accomplishment  of  its  end ; 
than  to  a  prompt  redress  of  grave  and  acknowledged  grievances,  through  violence 
and  bloodshed.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  motives  by  which  he  shaped  his 
course,  he  is,  unquestionably,  entitled  to  the  enduring  gratitude  of  his  country, — 
gratitude  that  should  not  be  withheld  because  he  paused,  irresolute,  at  that  point 
of  time  and  tide,  which,  "  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune."  He  had,  most 
ably  and  faithfully,  served  his  country  to  that  momentous  and  perilous  period,  and, 
if  he  then  hesitated,  or  declined  to  take  the  leap,  it  should  be  remembered  that  the 
sacrifice  was  by  no  means  essential  to  the  cause  of  INDEPENDENCE  ;  which,  indeed, 
was  neither  injured  nor  retarded  by  his  indecision  :  while  the  consequences  flowing 
from  such  indecision  affected  his  own  reputation  alone.  There  were,  moreover, 
29 


338  THE  PROTHONOTARYSHIP. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  from  his  supposed  want  of  energy  while 
in  the  first  Congress,  Mr.  John  Adams  had,  in  a  letter  inter 
cepted  and  published  by  the  British,  styled  him,  "a  piddling 
genius;"  and  Mr.  Adams  being  afterwards  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  then  thoroughly  anti-Gallican,  might,  pos 
sibly,  have  contributed  to  place  Mr.  Dickinson  in  the  opposite 
ranks.  Probably,  too,  the  once  celebrated  Pennsylvania  farmer, 
and  writer  of  Congressional  addresses,  was  not  altogether 
pleased  at  finding  himself  in  the  background,  and  eclipsed  by 
statesmen  of  less  standing  than  himself,  the  Hamiltons,  the 
Ameses,  &c.  It  is  enough  for  those  beneath  the  sphere  of 
competition  to  exclaim : 

Let  modest  Forster,  if  he  will,  excel 
Ten  metropolitans  in  preaching  well. 

In  addition  to  this  liberty  was  the  stock,  on  which  the  farmer's 
celebrity  was  engrafted ;  and,  lest  the  fine  foliage  might  "  grow 
into  the  yellow  leaf,"  he  was,  perhaps,  resolved  to  cherish,  at 
all  events,  the  vigour  of  the  parent  tree;  and  hence,  liberty, 
even  to  jacobinism,  was  among  the  toys  of  his  dotage.  This 
is  the  best  I  can  say,  for  a  teacher  of  political  ethics,  who 
(with  whatever  good  intentions)  for  wisdom,  gives  us  folly; 
for  virtue,  "deeds  to  make  heaven  weep,  all  earth  amazed," 
under  the  idea  of  modelling  the  world  according  to  a  pretty 
theory. 

The  post  I  was  honoured  with,  fully  satisfied  my  ambition  ; 
it  was  sufficiently  respectable,  and  in  a  few  years,  wholly  ade 
quate  to  my  wants.  The  duties  it  imposed,  I  was  pretty  well 
acquainted  with;  and  I  exerted  myself  to  lay  such  a  foundation 
in  the  office  arrangements,  as  might  support  a  regular  super 
structure.  The  trust  committed  to  me,  was  conscientiously 
attended  to,  and  I  venture  to  say,  not  negligently  executed.  My 
cares  for  a  future  competency,  which  alone  had  disturbed  me, 
were  done  away  by  my  establishment;  a  new  town  was  rising 
under  my  eyes  on  the  magnificent  banks  of  the  Susquehanna  ; 
and  though  remote  from  the  capital  and  obscure,  I  had  little 
left  to  wish  for; — a  state  too  tranquil  to  be  lasting. 

other  members  of  the  same  memorable  Congress,  equally  irresolute,  and  without  a 
tithe  of  his  redeeming  talents,  who  also  suffered  the  "  fair  occasion"  to  pass  "  for 
ever  by." — ED. 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  339 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Constitution  of  the  United  States. — WASHINGTON  elected  President. — Meeting  of 
Convention. — The  Senate. — Executive  Power. — Regulation  of  the  Press.— State    . 
of  Parties. — Leading  Characters  in  the   Convention. — French  Revolution. — 
Burke  and  Paine. — Washington's  Administration. — Party  Dissensions. — Mr- 
JEFFERSON. — State  of  Parties. 

BEING  now  about  to  enter  upon  political  discussions,  I  deem 
it  due  to  those  enthusiastically  republican  readers,  who  think  we 
can  never  sufficiently  praise  ourselves,  to  tell  them  to  stop  here  ; 
if,  from  some  unlucky  notices  I  may  have  given,  they  have  not 
already  anticipated  me.  I  am  truly  sorry  that  my  convictions 
will  not  permit  me  to  trace  events  in  the  usual  strain  of  panegy 
ric  ;  but  I  am  compelled,  in  the  style  of  a  grumbler,  to  say,  that 
the  patriotism,  which  had  been  calculated  upon  to  bear  us  out 
with  little  or  no  aid  from  authority,  and,  which,  in  the  opinion  of 
many,  was  still  in  full  vigour,  was,  to  the  eyes  of  all  sober  men, 
wholly  inadequate  to  the  demands  which  were  made  upon  it. 
It  had  the  knack,  indeed  of  evading  the  most  important  of 
them,  by  representing  them  as  spurious  ;  and  this  was  chiefly 
done,  by  restricting  patriotic  duties  to  the  limits  of  a  State- 
The  country  of  a  demagogue  is  the  precise  sphere  of  his  in 
fluence  ;  and  making  common  cause  on  this  principle,  they 
were  every  where  deaf  as  adders  to  the  claims  of  a  general 
interest.  The  articles  of  Confederation,  receiving  cement  from 
the  sense  of  common  danger,  which  prevailed  during  the  war, 
had  occasionally  afforded  faint  marks  of  continental  impression ; 
but  as  soon  as  the  fear  of  subjugation  was  removed,  they  were 
no  better  than  a  rope  of  sand;  and  the  general  sovereignty  was 
a  very  unequal  match  for  the  thirteen  individual  ones.  The 
voice  of  the  United  States,  was,  as  it  had  been  observed,  but 


340  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  drone  of  the  bag-pipes.  Its  buz  was  heard,  but  it  contributed 
not  at  all  to  the  modulation  of  the  music.  It  could  recommend, 
but  not  enforce  a  measure ;  and  hence,  the  imposition  of  cer 
tain  internal  taxes,  and  a  duty  of  five  per  centum  on  imported 
articles,  essential  to  the  discharge  of  the  public  debt  and  the 
fulfilment  of  a  stipulation  in  the  treaty  of  peace,  could  never  be 
accomplished.  The  refractory  States  were  not  to  be  moved  by 
considerations  of  national  justice  or  character ;  and  they  were 
equally  regardless  of  the  consequences  of  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union. 

To  rescue  the  country  from  the  impending  anarchy  and  ruin, 
the  influence  of  General  Washington  was  called  for,  and  again 
exerted  for  its  salvation.  Nothing  less  than  the  weight  of  his 
name  could  have  induced  the  adoption  of  the  new  federal  con 
stitution,  which  had  been  framed  under  his  auspices ;  and  it 
had  become  very  doubtful,  whether  the  anxious  struggle  for 
independence  had  not  been  in  vain,  and  the  anticipated  blessing 
of  self-government,  would  not  be  frustrated  in  its  very  dawn. 
The  interests  opposed  to  an  efficient  union  of  the  States,  were 
truly  formidable,  as  well  from  the  conviction  of  the  popular 
leaders  that  it  would  lessen,  if  not  annihilate  their  importance, 
as  from  the  too  contracted  notions  of  the  people  at  large,  and 
their  inability  to  comprehend  the  necessity  of  a  general  con 
trolling  authority.  The  battle  was  hard  fought  on  both  sides. 
To  the  manly  sense  and  patriotic  eloquence  of  the  one,  was 
opposed  the  trite,  but  seductive  cant  of  sedition  and  faction, 
The  refined  and  irresistible  reasoning  of  Publius,  the  signature 
to  a  series  of  essays  chiefly  written  by  Colonel  Hamilton,  was 
assailed  by  incessant  volleys  of  words  of  dire  import,  such  as 
monarchy,  aristocracy,  monopoly,  and  consolidation.*  But  the 

*  Whatever  frantic  and  unscrupulous  demagogues  may  choose  to  assert  to  the 
contrary,  it  is  matter  of  history,  which,  however,  it  is  not  always  convenient  or 
even  possible  for  them  to  consult, — that  HAMILTON  gave  to  the  new  Constitution, 
after  its  adoption,  a  cordial  and  manly  support.  That  he  had,  previously,  delibe 
rately  formed,  and  unreservedly  expressed,  opinions,  which  no  man  possessed  of 
decent  intelligence,  or  a  spark  of  generosity,  will  deny  were  honestly  entertained, 
— adverse  to  some  of  its  provisions, — matters  concerning  which,  wise  and  virtuous 
and  patriotic  men  might  well  differ,  and  about  which  they  unquestionably  did 
differ, — is  also  true ;  and  there  were  then,  as  there  are  now,  few  men  living  so  well 
entitled,  by  deep  study,  and  enlightened  reflection,  to  hold,  and  to  promulgate 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  341 

last  being  the  lucky  hit,  from  which  most  immediate  effect  was 

anticipated,  it  was  most  unmercifully  hackneyed  in  the  service. 

The  Constitution  was  represented  to  be  a  consolidation,  not  a 

original  views  upon  this  or  other  grave  national  interests,  as  ALEXANDER  HAMILTON; 
who,  of  all  the  statesmen  of  the  period,  or  of  later  time,  ranks  next  to  WASHINGTON, 
and  whose  name  and  memory,  second  only  to  his,  should  be  fondly  cherished  as  a 
proud,  national  inheritance ;  for  it  has  rarely  happened  that 

"  to  those  mansions  where  the  mighty  rest 

Since  their  foundation  came  a  nobler  guest." 

The  Life  of  PATRICK  HENRY,  written  by  a  disciple  of  THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  him- 
self  a  professed  admirer,  at  least,  of  the  "  Forest-born  Demosthenes,"  and  who 
furnished  materials  for  his  biography  : — informs  us  that  the  celebrated  orator, 
whose  patriotism  and  wisdom  the  revilers  of  HAMILTON, — between  whom  and  HENRY 
there  was,  on  this  subject,  a  perfect  coincidence  of  opinion, — never  think  of  ques 
tioning,  opposed  with  all  the  power  and  influence  of  his  surpassing  eloquence,  the 
adoption  of  this  same  Constitution.  We  learn  also  from  unquestionable  authority, 
that  this  Constitution  as  finally  adopted  in  Convention,  was  the  result  of  wise  and 
patriotic  conciliation  and  compromise  on  the  part  of  all  its  members.  WASHINGTON, 
as  is  well  known,  was  President  of  this  Convention,  and  even  he  has  been  charged 
with  hostility  to  the  work  it  accomplished.  In  the  letter  addressed  by  him  in  his 
official  capacity,  to  the  President  of  Congress,  enclosing  the  result  of  the  anxiously 
patriotic  labours  of  the  enlightened  body  over  which  he  had  presided, — this  passage 
occurs,  and  should  be  deeply  impressed  on  the  hearts  and  memories  of  present  and 
future  statesmen  and  legislators  : 

"The  Constitution  which  we  now  present,  is  the  result  of  a  spirit  of  amity,  and 
of  that  mutual  deference  arid  concession  which  the  peculiarity  of  our  political 
situation  rendered  indispensable." 

WASHINGTON'S  opinion  expressed  on  another  occasion,  as  we  learn  from  Sparks' 
Life,  p.  403  ; — was,  "  Nor  am  I  yet  such  an  enthusiastic,  partial,  or  indiscriminat- 
ing  admirer  of  it,  as  not  to  perceive  that  it  is  tinctured  with  some  real  though  not 
radical  defects." 

FRANKLIN  said,  "  I  consent  to  the  Constitution  because  I  expect  no  better,  and 
because  I  am  sure  it  is  not  bad." 

And  MADISON,  in  the  57th  number  of  the  "FEDERALIST,"  a  neglected  volume 
which  all  honest  "  Democrats,"  not  easily  frightened  by  a  name,  would  be  wiser 
for  perusing,  says  : — 

"  It  was  acceded  to  by  a  deep  conviction  of  the  necessity  of  sacrificing  private 
opinion  and  partial  interests  to  the  public  good,  and  by  a  despair  of  seeing  this  ne 
cessity  diminished  by  delays  or  by  new  experiments." 

The  last  number  of  the  Federalist,  written  by  HAMILTON,  proves  the  coincidence 
of  opinion  between  him  and  the  illustrious  men  thus  cited.  He  says — 

"  The  system,  though  it  may  not  be  perfect  in  every  part,  is,  upon  the  whole,  a 
good  one ;  is  the  best  that  the  present  views  and  circumstances  will  permit,  and  is 
such  an  one  as  promises  every  species  of  security,  which  a  reasonable  people  can 
desire."— ED. 

29* 


342  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

confederation  of  the  States;  and  under  this  shrewd  idea,  its 
adversaries  very  ingeniously  endeavoured  to  ward  oft*  the  im 
putation  of  anti-federalism,  now  becoming  odious.  They  con 
tended,  that  they  were,  in  fact,  the  federalists,  as  the  self-styled 
federalists,  were  consolidators,  aristocrats,  and  monarchists. 
Luckily,  at  this  time,  there  were  no  French  imperialists,  or 
promoters  of  universal  despotism ;  or,  without  doubt,  they 
would  have  been  these  too.  But  the  tribunitial  arts  of  the  soi  di- 
santes  federal  men,  were  all  in  vain.  Some  dire  infatuation, 
according  to  them,  had  seized  upon  the  people;  and  to  perdi 
tion  they  must  go,  since  their  best  friends  were  no  longer  lis 
tened  to.  The  grand  processions  of  trades  and  occupations 
which  were  exhibited  at  Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia ; 
the  hint  of  which,  was,  probably,  taken  from  the  shows  of  Ta 
merlane  at  Samarcand,*  had  completely  federalized  the  popu 
lace  of  these  capitals,  and  given  an  eclat  to  the  business  else 
where,  that  could  not  be  resisted.  Under  the  "  curses"  therefore 
"  not  loud  but  deep,"  of  its  enemies,  the  measure  was  sullenly 
acquiesced  in;  and  the  Constitution  gradually  ratified  by  the 
States.  By  this  event,  the  constitutional  party  of  Pennsylvania, 
was  laid  at  the  feet  of  the  Republicans,  who  now  triumphing 
under  the  appellation  of  federalists,  overwhelmed  their  adver 
saries  with  the  short-lived  odium  of  anti-federalism. 

But  the  reputation  of  Washington  which  had  carried  the  new 
system,  was  no  less  necessary  to  give  efficacy  to  its  operations, 
than  it  had  been  to  originate  it,  and  obtain  its  ratification ;  and 
as  he  could  not  but  be  aware  of  this,  he  consented  from  a  sense 
of  duty,  but  without  a  particle  of  that  "  sweet,  reluctant,  amo 
rous  delay"  with  which  more  ethereal  patriots  sometimes  yield 
to  the  wishes  of  the  people,  to  be  a  candidate  for  the  presidency. 
As  the  disapprovers  of  the  Constitution,  knew  that  their  oppo 
sition  to  his  election  would  be  unavailing,  they  gave  none,  but 
contented  themselves  with  taunts  and  dismal  forebodings.  Ge 
neral  Washington  was  then  elected;!  and  I  mention  it  as  a 

*  "The  public  joy  was  testified  by  illuminations  and  masquerades  ;  the  trader 
of  Samarcand  passed  in  review  ;  and  every  trade  was  emulous  to  execute  some 
quaint  device,  some  marvellous  pageant,  with  the  materials  of  their  peculiar  art." 
— Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall,  Harper's  Edit.,  vol.  iv.  p.  283. — ED. 

t  He  thus  wrote  in  his  Diary,  on  the  day  of  his  departure,  two  days  after  re- 


ELECTION  OF  WASHINGTON. 


343 


proof  of  my  decided  conduct  in  the  controversy,  that  my  coun 
try  did  me  the  honour  to  appoint  me  one  of  his  electors.  Had 
not  my  persuasion  of  the  pressing  importance  of  the  measure 
forbade  my  being  passive,  it  would  have  been  scarcely  possible 
to  have  remained  so.  From  an  idea  that  those  holding  offices 
under  the  State,  would  feel  it  their  interest  to  oppose  a  system 
which  circumscribed  the  authority  from  which  they  derived 
them,  and  might,  thence,  disturb  the  enjoyment  of  them,  or  even 
render  them  nugatory,  they  were  confidently  appealed  to  by  the 
anti-federalists,  as  the  natural  enemies  of  the  constitution : 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  persons  who  had  been  in  the  army, 
were  counted  upon  by  the  federalists,  as  likely  to  promote  a 
scheme,  in  which  the  late  Commander-in-chief,  had  taken  so 
warm  a  part.  But  I  did  not  wait  to  be  solicited  by  the  parties ; 
neither  did  I  poise  their  relative  strength,  or  listen,  for  a  mo 
ment,  to  the  narrow  dictates  of  self-interest.  I  am  happy  in 
being  able  to  say,  that  I  was  an  early,  undisguised,  ardent, 
active,  and,  in  my  sphere,  conspicuous  partisan  of  the  Constitu 
tion  ;  of  course,  a  mark  for  the  vengeance  of  the  professional 
wielders  of  the  people,  who  felt  the  potency  of  their  incanta 
tions  most  cruelly  impaired  by  its  adoption.  The  discomfiture 
being  complete,  they  made  a  virtue  of  necessity ;  and  not  long 
after,  yielded  with  a  tolerably  good  grace,  to  the  call  of  a  con 
vention  for  altering  the  constitution  of  the  State,  so  as  to  render 
it  more  conformable  to  that  of  the  United  States.  They  consi 
dered  this,  and  wisely,  as  a  means  of  recovering  their  lost  con 
sequence  ;  and  exerting  themselves  at  the  elections  for  members 
of  this  convention,  they  contrived  to  take  the  field,  with  a  force 
not  very  inferior  to  that  of  their  adversaries. 

This  body  has  been  considered  respectable  for  abilities :  and 
among  the  men  of  note  who  were  delegated  to  it,  may  be  found 

ceiving  from  Congress,  through  its  special  messenger,  CHARLES  THOMSON,  notifica 
tion  of  his  election : 

"  About  ten  o'clock  I  bade  adieu  to  Mount  Vernon,  to  private  life,  and  to  do 
mestic  felicity ;  and,  with  a  mind  oppressed  with  more  anxious  and  painful  sensa 
tions  than  I  have  words  to  express,  set  out  for  New  York,  in  company  with  Mr. 
THOMSON  and  Colonel  HUMPHREYS,  with  the  best  disposition  to  render  service  to 
my  country  in  obedience  to  its  call,  but  with  less  hope  of  answering  its  expecta- 
tions." — ED. 


344  MEETING  OF  CONVENTION. 

the  names  of  Mifflin,  M'Kean,  Wilson,  Lewis,  Ross,  Addison, 
Sitgreaves,  Pickering,  Gallatin,  Smilie,  Findley,  and  Snyder.  I 
had  myself  the  equivocal  honour  of  being  a  yea  and  nay  mem 
ber  ;  but  having  been  elected  in  the  room  of  one  who  died,  I  did 
not  take  my  seat,  until  some  progress  had  been  made  in  the 
business.  The  point  which  had  excited  most  interest,  and  was 
thence  the  subject  of  the  warmest  controversy,  was  now  upon 
the  carpet.  This  was  the  construction  of  the  senate,  or  upper 
house,  (as  it  is  sometimes  called,)  of  the  legislature.  A  com 
mittee,  selected  for  the  purpose,  had  reported  an  outline  of  the 
constitution ;  and  that  part  of  the  report  which  recommended 
the  choosing  of  senators  through  the  medium  of  electors,  was 
under  discussion.  Mr.  Wilson  took  the  lead  in  opposition  to 
the  report ;  Mr.  Lewis  in  support  of  it.  It  was  urged  by  the 
latter  and  his  co-operators,  that  the  senate  should  be  so  consti 
tuted  as  to  form  a  check  upon  the  house  of  representatives ;  and, 
as  in  the  proposed  mode  of  creating  it  through  the  alembic  of 
electors,  it  would  be  purged  of  the  impurities  of  an  immediate 
election  by  the  people,  the  desideratum  would  be  obtained  ; — 
that  being  chosen  by  a  selected  few,  it  was  presumable,  it  would 
be  more  wise,  more  respectable,  and  more  composed  of  men  of 
wealth,  than  if  chosen  by  the  multitude ;  and  hence  it  was  in 
ferred  that  it  would  partake,  in  no  inconsiderable  degree,  of  the 
proper  qualities  of  an  upper  house — of  a  house  of  lords,  it 
might  have  been  said  if  the  idea  had  been  endurable.  As  to 
Mr.  Wilson's  scheme,  (for  he  had  moved  a  substitute,)  of 
choosing  the  senators  in  the  same  manner  as  the  representatives, 
with  the  exception  only  of  larger  election  districts,  it  was  repro 
bated  as  doing  away  every  purpose  of  a  divided  legislature — 
since  that  the  persons  composing  the  two  houses,  would  be  pre 
cisely  of  the  same  character,  and  too  homogeneous  to  operate 
as  correctives  of  each  other ;  and  that  unless  the  elector-sys 
tem  should  be  adopted,  the  convention  had  been  called  in  vain. 

Wilson,  in  defence  of  his  plan,  was  for  resting  the  chance  of 
the  two  bodies  being  sufficient  checks  upon  each  other,  upon 
the  circumstances  of  their  different  spheres  of  election ;  of  their 
sitting  in  different  chambers,  which  would  produce,  he  con 
tended,  an  esprit  du  corps  in  each ;  and  their  being  chosen  for 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  SENATE.  .  345 

different  periods,  the  representatives  for  one  year,  the  senators 
for  four  years.  He  moreover  urged,  that  electors  would  open  a 
door  to  unfair  practice  and  intrigue;  that  the  senators  should 
be  as  much  favourites  of  the  people  as  the  representatives,  and 
be  inspired  with  equal  confidence,  by  equally  feeling  themselves 
their  choice. 

As  the  debate  seemed  to  turn  upon  the  idea,  that  this  was 
a  contest  between  the  principles  of  democracy  and  aristocracy, 
and  that  great  advantages  would  be  gained  to  either  that  might 
prevail,  a  considerable  degree  of  heat  was  engendered  ;  and 
Wilson,  hitherto  deemed  an  aristocrat,  a  monarchist,  and  a  des 
pot,  as  all  the  federalists  were,  found  his  adherents  on  this  occa 
sion,  with  a  few  exceptions,  on  the  democratic  or  anti-federal 
side  of  the  house.  In  the  list  of  exceptions,  I  was ;  but  not  so 
much  from  the  arguments  adduced,  though  appearing  to  me  both 
ingenious  and  sound,  as  from  my  conviction  of  its  being  wholly 
immaterial,  so  far  as  a  check  was  contemplated,  whether  the 
senate  was  brought  together  through  the  intervention  of  electors 
or  not ;  and  I  was,  of  course,  adverse  to  a  measure,  at  once, 
circuitous,  useless,  and  unpopular.  As  it  was  my  practice  to 
commit  my  thoughts  to  paper,  upon  questions  which  underwent 
discussion,  I  have  the  following  note  of  this. 

"  The  desire  of  choosing  senators  through  the  medium  of 
electors,  is  certainly  founded  on  a  fallacious  idea :  for,  admitting 
that  a  small  number  of  dispassionate,  sensible  men,  would  make 
a  better  choice  than  the  people  at  large,  is  it  possible  that  the 
advocates  for  the  measure  can  be  so  blinded  by  prejudice  as  not 
to  see,  that  it  is  not  the  most  dispassionate  and  intelligent  men 
that  will  be  sought  for  as  electors,  but  the  most  devoted  tools  of 
party ;  and  that  the  prevailing  party,  in  the  district,  will  always 
make  the  senator  ?  To  suppose  the  contrary,  or  that  any  one, 
when  parties  run  high,  (and  when  do  they  not  ?)  would  be  voted 
for  as  an  elector,  merely  from  a  reliance  on  his  wisdom  and 
integrity,  without  a  knowledge  of  his  sentiments,  is  to  suppose 
a  political  miracle,  and  to  forget  that  ever  party  spirit  existed. 
Let  it  not  be  said  that  the  object  is  to  get  a  good  man  of  what 
ever  party.  This  is  contrary  to  all  party  policy  and  practice, 
which,  if  it  cannot  succeed  in  procuring  the  election  of  its  own 


346  AUTHOR'S  OPINIONS. 

members,  prefers  the  weakest  and  most  contemptible  of  the 
other  side,  as  being  less  capable  of  doing  mischief.  The  respec 
tability  of  the  Maryland  Senate,  which  has  been  so  often 
instanced  in  the  debate,  proves  nothing  to  the  purpose.  If  it  is 
a  respectable  body,  and  of  superior  wisdom  to  the  other  house, 
it  is  not  because  it  is  chosen  by  electors.  It  must  be  owing  to 
the  more  enlightened  persons  who  compose  it,  reserving  them 
selves  for  it,  and  having  sufficient  interest  with  the  people  to 
secure  their  seats ;  which  interest  would  be  the  same  without 
the  intervention  of  electors;  and  if  the  State  of  Maryland  shall 
have  a  wiser  and  higher  toned  Senate  than  Pennsylvania,  it 
must  be  attributed  to  the  more  aristocratical  state  of  society 
there,  which  furnishes  them  with  more  suitable  materials,  and 
gives  the  men  of  wealth  and  information  a  superior  degree  of 
influence." 

Thus  far  the  note,  the  observations  in  which  seem  fully  justi 
fied  by  events.  Let  us  consider  the  objects  which  regulate  the 
choice  of  electors  of  a  President  and  Vice-President,  and  then 
say,  whether  the  Senate  would  have  been  bettered  by  the  elector 
scheme.  I  myself  was  once  chosen  an  elector,  but  it  was  be 
cause  my  voice  was  known  to  be  for  Washington,  not  person 
ally  on  my  own  account. 

As  another  mean  to  improve  the  upper  house,*  a  proposition 
was  brought  forward  by  the  friends  to  the  elector  plan,  to 
apportion  the  senators  by  means  of  a  ratio  compounded  of 
wealth  and  numbers ;  the  intention  of  which  was,  to  give  greater 
security  to  property,  by  increasing  the  weight  of  the  wealthy 
districts,  beyond  what  they  would  derive  from  population  alone. 
After  reprobating  the  idea  of  introducing  so  invidious  and 
sordid  a  principle  into  the  government,  and  remarking  that  it 
could  not  answer  its  purpose,  unless  this  increased  representa 
tion  was  under  the  sole  guidance  of  the  rich,  who  are  rarely 
oppressed  by  the  poor,  my  note  goes  on  to  say : — "  Whatever 
advantages  may,  for  a  time,  be  given  to  the  poor,  by  a  state  of 
turbulence  and  confusion,  as  soon  as  order  is  restored,  the  pre- 

*  A  protest  is  again  entered  against  the  phrase.  When  will  the  good  sense  of 
a  republican  people  discard  the  senseless  designation  ! — ED. 


EXECUTIVE  POWER.  347 

dominance  of  wealth  immediately  returns.  It  seems  unneces 
sary  to  protect  local  wealth.  It  is  not  probable,  that  the  local 
distinctions  now  prevailing  will  continue,  but  rather  that 
wealthy  individuals  will  make  common  cause."  A  scheme 
of  the  same  kind  as  this  compound  ratio,  was  adopted  by  the 
National  Assembly  of  France ;  speaking  of  which,  I  find  Mr. 
Burke  has  this  remark,  with  which  part  of  mine  exactly  coin 
cides.  "  If  any  favour,"  says  he,  "  was  meant  to  the  rich,  the 
privilege  ought  to  have  been  conferred  on  the  individual  rich, 
or  of  some  class  formed  of  rich  persons ;  because  the  contest 
between  rich  and  poor,  is  not  a  struggle  between  corporation 
and  corporation,  but  a  contest  between  men  and  men ;  a  com 
petition,  not  between  districts,  but  between  descriptions." 

I  aim  at  no  triumph  by  these  remarks,  and  am  not  so  un- 
candid  as  not  to  own,  that  before  being  led  to  examine  it,  I  was 
as  much  seduced  by  the  plausibility  of  the  elector  scheme  as  any 
one.  I  was  at  first  induced  to  oppose  it  in  the  case  of  the 
Senate,  in  the  view  of  applying  it  in  the  choice  of  a  chief  magis 
trate,  under  an  idea,  that  it  might  at  least  have  the  wholesome 
effect  of  mitigating  the  fury  of  a  general  election  in  a  matter 
of  so  great  interest,  by  putting  the  object  a  little  out  of  sight ; 
but  I  now  doubt  whether  it  would  be  productive  even  of  this 
good. 

The  animated  discussions  which  had  taken  place  in  the  Con 
vention,  on  the  formation  of  the  Senate,  had  produced  no  incon 
siderable  degree  of  ill-humour  among  the  members  of  that  body^ 
and  more  especially,  as  is  usual,  among  the  losers.  For  my 
own  part,  I  wras  considered  by  them  as  an  apostate  from  my 
principles;  as  a  deserter  of  the  federal  standard;  and  at  tables, 
where  I  occasionally  fell  in  with  my  federal  acquaintance,  was 
treated  by  them  with  much  unpleasant  coldness  and  neglect. 
As,  however,  I  had  acted  honestly,  from  the  best  lights  my  un 
derstanding  afforded,  I  was  not  to  be  browbeaten  into  a  retrac 
tion  of  the  sentiments  I  had  uttered ;  and  was  as  confident  in 
my  opinions,  as  they  could  be  in  theirs  ;  in  which,  I  presume, 
I  have  been  justified  by  events. 

As  to  the  executive  power,  the  structure,  as  it  now  stands, 
appeared  to  have  been  reared  before  I  became  a  member  of  the 


348  EXECUTIVE  POWER. 

Convention.  It  would  seem,  that  it  had  been  agreed  upon,  and 
reported  by  a  committee  of  nine  members,  who  had  been 
selected  for  the  purpose  of  framing  and  methodizing  the  out 
lines  of  the  constitution.  At  any  rate,  no  essential  opposition 
was  made  to  this  article,  which,  in  my  opinion,  is  the  most  ex 
ceptionable  of  any  in  the  instrument.  The  following  note  con 
tains  the  chief  ground  of  my  objection  to  it,  viz. :  "  When  I 
consider  the  strong  temptation  to  the  courting  of  popular  favour, 
held  out  by  the  governor's  re-eligibility  at  the  end  of  three 
years,  I  am  induced  to  condemn  the  section,  and  to  prefer 
electing  him  for  a  certain  period,  say  four,  five,  six,  seven,  or 
so  many  years  as  might  be  deemed  safe  and  expedient ;  at  the 
end  of  which  term,  either  a  perpetual  or  very  long  exclusion  to 
take  place.  An  exclusion,  long  enough  to  wear  out  the  influence 
acquired  whilst  in  office,  and  to  make  a  re-election  a  too  re 
mote  and  uncertain  contingency,  to  be  worth  improper  sacri 
fices  and  compliances.*  The  rotation  founded  on  a  short 
exclusion,  appears  to  be  inadequate  to  its  object,  and  to  have 
little  other  effect,  than  to  compel  us  to  part  with  a  chief  magis 
trate,  however  patriotic  his  conduct,  or  pressing  the  exigence. 
To  it,  I  would  prefer  an  uninterrupted  re-eligibility."  This 
idea  I  communicated  to  several  of  the  leading  members  of  the 
Convention,  but  do  not  recollect,  that  any  of  them  seemed  much 
impressed  with  its  importance.  Mr.  Lewis,  indeed,  did  not 
seem  to  think  unfavourably  of  it ;  but  had  been  so  much  hurt 
with  losing  the  electors,  that  he  seemed  to  despair  of  redeeming 
the  loss,  by  the  substitution  of  any  other  good,  and  therefore 
declined  attempting  any  alteration  in  the  article :  and  having 
too  little  confidence  in  myself  to  undertake  a  change  in  it,  with 
out  able  support,  I  suffered  it  to  pass  without  publicly  testifying 
my  disapprobation  of  it.  What  made  the  general  acquiescence 
in  it  more  remarkable,  was,  that  it  was  thought  necessary  to 
remedy  the  evil  arising  from  the  annual  election  of  sheriffs, 
who,  it  was  observed,  were  too  intent  on  preserving  the  good 
will  of  their  constituents,  to  do  their  duty  to  effect,  until  their 

*  I  was  not  aware,  until  very  lately,  that  General  Lee  uses  precisely  the  same 
reasoning  in  a  letter  dated  July  29th,  1776,  to  Patrick  Henry,  jun.,  Governor  of 
Virginia. 


REGULATION  OF  THE  PRESS.  349 

ultimate  term  of  service  was  secured.  Perhaps  it  was  deemed 
a  kind  of  profanation  of  the  high  function  of  chief  magistrate, 
to  suppose  that  any  considerations  of  this  sort  could  warp  the 
manly  march  of  him,  who  might  have  the  honour  to  be  invested 
with  it.  But,  whatever  force  there  may  be  in  the  foregoing 
sentiments,  candour  compels  me  to  own,  that  at  this  moment,  I 
am  much  less  tenacious  of  them  than  I  have  been.  Were  the 
Governor's  the  only  station  to  be  sought  for,  the  reasoning 
might  be  conclusive;  but  there  are  so  many  other  temptations 
to  a  man  smitten  with  a  love  of  the  public  coffers,  of  influence 
and  power,  that  it  amounts  to  much  less  than  I  once  supposed. 
Indeed,  the  best,  and  perhaps  only  security,  for  a  firm  and  up 
right  administration,  is  to  be  found,  in  innate  dignity  of  mind. 
And  the  more  we  contemplate  the  construction  of  a  popular 
form  of  government,  the  more  shall  we  be  convinced,  that  no 
checks  are  competent  to  master  corruption,  or  supply  the  want 
of  integrity;  and  that  after  all  the  jargon  about  anti-republican 
tendencies,  no  tendency  can  be  republican  unless  it  be  virtuous. 
Next  to  the  construction  of  the  senate,  the  regulation  of  the 
press  was  the  ground  of  most  acrimony  in  the  Convention. 
Whether  or  not  the  truth  should  be  received  as  a  justification, 
on  prosecutions  for  libels,  divided  its  law  characters.  I  was 
among  the  simple  voters  who  thought  that  it  ought;  and  although 
now  absolved  from  my  sin,  by  federal  opinion,*  I  was  then  sub 
jected  to  the  imputation  of  wild  innovation  and  democracy.  I 
could  say  a  great  deal  more  of  what  was  done  in  this  assembly, 
and  produce  a  world  of  political  reasoning,  vastly  edifying  and 
profound ;  but  enough,  in  all  conscience,  of  the  business  of  con 
stitution  making !  Could  we  have  made  the  people  wise,  mode 
rate,  disinterested,  we  should  have  laboured  to  some  purpose ; 
but,  where  they  are  under  no  dominion  but  that  of  their  selfish 
passions,  hurrying  them  on  to  a  goal,  regardless  of  conse- 

*  Declared  in  the  Sedition  Law,  and  in  the  defences  to  the  prosecutions  under 
the  reign  of  JEFFERSON.  It  is  also,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  now  the  doctrine  and  law 
of  libels  in  England,  as  introduced  by  Mr.  Fox,  and  concurred  in  by  Mr.  PITT. 

And  HAMILTON'S  definition  of  the  Liberty  of  the  Press  is, — "  the  right  of  pub 
lishing  the  truth  with  good  motives,  arid  to  an  useful  end,  whether  it  inculpates  the 
government,  the  magistrates,  or  private  individuals." 
30 


350  STATE  OF  PARTIES. 

quences,  of  what  use  are  all  the  constitutions  that  have  been 
made  by  the  friends  to  liberty,  in  America  or  France  ?  They 
want  an  essential  ingredient  of  all  laws.  They  may  be  just  in 
their  sanctions,  wise  and  honest  in  their  injunctions ;  but  where 
are  their  enforcing  and  prohibitory  powers  ?  As  they  are,  I  am 
sick  of  them.  With  all  their  seeming  beauties,  they  contain  a 
latent  fla\v ;  and  I  am  almost  tempted  to  reject  the  flattering 
theory  of  our  institutions,  as  Bajazet  does  the  Paradise  of 
Mahomet. 

Prophet,  take  notice,  I  disclaim  thy  paradise, 
Thy  fragrant  bowers  and  everlasting  shades; 
Thou  hast  placed  woman  there,  and  all  thy  joys  are  tainted. 

If  woman  spoils  the  one,  so  does  selfish  man  the  other. 

The  sitting  of  this  assembly  for  new-modelling  the  constitu 
tion,  had  the  effect  that  had  been  anticipated  by  the  anti-federal 
ists.  It  enabled  them  to  discharge  a  great  portion  of  the  odium 
with  which  they  had  been  loaded  by  their  recent  discomfiture ; 
and  although  they  had  been  completely  laid  upon  their  backs,  it 
was  evident  that  from  this  position  they  had  already  turned 
upon  their  sides,  and  were  in  a  fair  way  of  being  very  soon  on 
top  of  their  antagonists.  Such  are  the  advantages  of  a  steady, 
undeviating,  profligate  pursuit  of  power,  over  a  regard  for  the 
public  good^  desultorily  exerted  without  concert  or  system  !  A 
panic  terror  of  the  power  of  the  union  under  the  new  constitu 
tion,  prevailed  in  the  Convention ;  and  some,  who  were  not 
infected  with  it,  acted  as  if  they  were,  for  the  purpose  of  morti 
fying  Wilson,  who  had  spoiled  their  favourite  scheme.  The 
bugbear  of  consolidation  stalked  hideously  among  us,  to  the  dis 
may  of  many  federalists,  no  less  than  of  the  anti-federalists ; 
and,  at  no  small  expense  of  the  cogitative  powers,  many  inge 
nious  devices  were  framed  to  resist  his  encroachments.  A 
balance  was  anxiously  sought  where  none  could  be  obtained  ; 
for  where  two  parties  only  fight,  one  must  prove  the  strongest. 
By  means  of  a  third,  indeed,  the  weaker  adversary  may  be  put 
upon  a  par  with  the  stronger,  as  the  House  of  Lords,  in  the 
British  constitution,  is  supposed  to  hold  the  balance  between  the 
King  and  the  Commons ;  or  as  either  one  of  the  three  may  do 
it  between  the  other  two.  But  with  respect  to  any  imagined 


STATE  OF  PARTIES.  351 

hostility  between  the  General  Government  and  those  of  {he  par 
ticular  States,  if  it  exists,  it  must  take  its  course ;  there  seems  to 
be  no  control.  The  former  will  be  potent  when  administered 
by  men  who  have  no  scruples  in  regard  to  means ;  but  weak  as 
the  old  confederation  when  in  the  hands  of  the  principled  and 
conscientious.  The  power  of  the  country,  under  her  existing 
establishments,  will  be  wielded  by  the  turbulent  and  most 
daring  ;*  and  if  these,  by  any  chance,  should  be  thrown  from 
the  greater  wheel,  they  will  immediately  avail  themselves  of  in 
herent  jealousies  to  get  possession  of  the  smaller  ones,  by  an 
unprincipled  use  of  which  they  will  still  find  means  to  keep  the 
ascendant.  When  the  federalists  held  the  helm  of  the  General 
Government,  there  was  an  incessant  jarring  between  that  and 
the  State  authorities,  then  managed  by  their  adversaries ;  and 
were  the  former  as  little  restrained  by  a  concern  for  the  public 
good  as  the  latter,  they  would  have  played  the  same  game 
against  Mr.  Jefferson  and  his  sect;  instead  of  which,  since  their 
accession  to  national  rule,  they  have  been  suffered  to  proceed 
without  the  smallest  annoyance,  in  a  part  in  which  they  were 
obviously  most  vulnerable ;  and  in  which,  if  their  own  malig 
nant,  Catilinarian  spirit  had  prevailed  among  the  federalists, 
they  would  most  assuredly  have  been  assailed.  Nor  let  it  be 
said,  that  they  had  not  this  in  their  power,  after  the  actual  war- 
measures  of  Governor  Snyder  against  President  Madison.  If 
ever  sincere  men  shall  again  acquire  the  stations  they  ought  to 
possess,  then  again  shall  we  be  stunned  by  the  brawlings  of 
anti-federal  discord.  The  edifying  unity  of  democracy  will  no 
longer  be  marred  by  a  division  into  schools,  nor  will  the  Binnses 
and  Duanes  turn  their  arms  upon  each  other. 

The  Convention,  it  has  been  observed,  was  deemed  respecta 
ble  for  ability ;  and  upon  a  comparison  with  the  materials  of 
our  State  legislatures,  it  no  doubt  was.  It  had  a  good  many 

*  The  language  here  suggested  by  experience,  is  substantially  the  same  as  that 
quoted  from  the  Cinna  of  Corneille,  by  Mr.  Shepherd,  in  his  Paris  of  1802 : 

Mais  quand  le  peuple  est  maitre,  on  n'agit  qu'on  tumulte, 
La  voix  de  la  raison  jarnais  ne  se  consulte ; 
Les  honneurs  soul  rendus  aux  plus  ambitieux, 
L'autorite  livree  aux  plus  seditieux. 


352  LEADING  CHARACTERS  IN  CONVENTION. 

speaker^  in  it ;  but,  that  an  aptitude  to  prate  is  no  conclu 
sive  evidence  of  sound  judgment,  is  an  observation  as  old,  at 
least,  as  Sallust.  The  most  able  debaters  in  the  body,  were 
Wilson*  and  Lewis.f  Ross,J  Addison,§  Sitgreaves,||  and  Gal- 

*  The  Honourable  JAMES  WILSON.  He  was  born  in  Scotland,  in  1742.  He 
was  educated  at  Glasgow,  St.  Andrews,  and  Edinburgh.  He  arrived  in  Phila 
delphia,  in  1766,  and  found  employment  as  a  tutor  in  the  college  and  academy, 
and  early  acquired  a  high  reputation  as  a  classical  scholar.  He  commenced  the 
study  of  law,  in  the  office  of  JOHN  DICKINSON,  and  commenced  its  practice  at  the 
expiration  of  two  years,  first  at  Reading,  and  then  at  Carlisle.  In  1775  he  was 
elected  to  Congress.  He  was  a  uniform  advocate  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence,  which  he  signed.  In  1787,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Convention  which 
framed  the  Federal  Constitution.  In  1789,  he  was  appointed  by  WASHINGTON,  a 
judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  He  died  in  August,  1798,  at 
the  age  of  fifty-six  years.  His  political  and  legal  disquisitions  are  extant  in  three 
volumes,  and  much  esteemed. — Ency.  Amer. — ED. 

t  Mr.  LEWIS  became,  subsequently,  a  prominent  member  of  the  Philadelphia 
Bar,  distinguished  alike  for  his  talents  and  eccentricities. — ED. 

J  The  Honourable  JAMES  Ross.  He  still  resides  (1846)  at  Pittsburg,  venerable 
for  his  years,  his  virtues,  and  public  services.  He  acted  a  very  conspicuous  part 
in  the  politics  of  Pennsylvania,  from  the  close  of  the  Revolution  until  the  year 
1808.  He  was  the  candidate  for  the  office  of  Governor  in  opposition  to  JUDGE 
McKEAN,  in  1799,  and  in  1802;  and  was  again  a  candidate,  in  opposition  to 
SIMON  SNYDER,  in  1808.  He  was,  for  many  years,  the  acknowledged  head  of  the 
Bar  in  Allegheny  county. — ED. 

§  Judge  ALEXANDER  ADDISON.  He  was  a  man  of  strong  and  cultivated  mind ; 
a  distinguished  jurist,  and  an  able  theologian.  He  was  the  author  of  a  volume 
of  "Reports  of  Cases  in  the  County  Courts  of  the  Fifth  Circuit,  and  in  the  High 
Court  of  Errors  and  Appeals  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania." — ED. 

II  SAMUEL  SITGREAVES  was  an  eminent  jurist,  an  upright  and  virtuous  citizen. 
He  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  on  the  16th  day  of  March,  1764,  where  he  received 
an  excellent  education,  and  where,  in  1784,  under  the  auspices  of  the  late  re 
spectable  WILLIAM  RAWLE,  he  was  admitted  to  the  Bar.  In  1785,  he  removed  to 
Easton,  in  Pennsylvania,  where  he  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession. 
In  1794,  he  was  elected  to  Congress,  where  he  served  with  usefulness  and  dis 
tinction.  He  also  particularly  distinguished  himself  as  one  of  the  Commissioners 
to  England, — while  the  United  States  were  worthily  represented  by  the  Honourable 
RUFUS  KING,— for  the  settlement  of  claims  under  the  Treaty  of  1783.  During  his 
sojourn  abroad,  he  visited  the  Continent,  and  was  at  Paris  when  NAPOLEON  was 
invested  with  the  office  and  honours  of  the  First  Consulship.  Having  accomplished 
the  object  of  his  mission,  he  returned  from  Europe  in  1801,  immediately  after  the 
inauguration  of  Mr.  JEFFERSON  ;  and  from  that  event,  may  be  dated  the  retirement 
of  Mr.  SITGREAVES  from  public  life.  It  could  hardly,  indeed,  be  expected  that  the 
third  President  could  find  befitting  employment  for  an  ardent  admirer  of  the  first, 
for  one  who  felt  a  pride  in  being  known  as  a  WASHINGTONIAN  REPUBLICAN.  On 
its  organization,  in  1814,  Mr.  SITGREAVES  was  elected  President  of  the  EASTON 


LEADING  CHARACTERS  IN  CONVENTION.  353 

latin,*  were  comparatively  young  statesmen ;  though  each  of 
the  three  first,  acquitted  himself  handsomely ;  the  last  did  not 
venture  beyond  an  isolated  observation.  It  was  singular,  by 
the  bye,  and  honourable  to  the  liberality  of  our  country,  to  hear 
a  French  accent  intermingling  with  our  own,  on  a  question  for 
framing  a  Constitution  for  Pennsylvania.  It  was  realizing  the 

BANK,  in  which  office  he  continued  to  the  time  of  his  decease,  in  the  sixty-fourth 
year  of  his  age, — on  the  4th  day  of  April,  1827.  Mr.  SITGREAVES  was  much 
distinguished  for  his  companionable  qualities,  for  pungent  wit,  and  keen  repartee. 
He  was  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  of  which  few  remain  in  advantageous  con- 
trast  to  the  multitude  of  the  new,  and  he  well  maintained  the  dignity  of  his  order 
in  the  prominent  social  position  to  which  his  learning,  abilities,  and  virtues  emi 
nently  entitled  him. — ED. 

*  ALBERT  GALLATIN  was  born  in  Geneva,  Switzerland,  in  1761,  and  was  edu 
cated  at  the  University  of  that  city.  For  many  years  he  was  a  resident  of  Penn 
sylvania.  He  arrived  at  Boston,  in  1780.  He  opposed  the  adoption  of  the  Federal 
Constitution,  a  proceeding  obnoxious  to  Democratic  censure  in  the  case  of  HAMIL 
TON,  but  in  that  of  GALLATIN,  a  venial  offence.  In  1793  Mr.  GALLATIN  was  elected 
by  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  to  the  Senate  of  the  Union,  "  although,"  as  it 
was  said,  "  he  entertained  doubts  of  his  own  eligibility."  When  he  took  his  seat, 
the  question  of  citizenship  was  revived,  arid  he  lost  it,  "after  an  elaborate  investi 
gation  and  report,  on  the  ground  that  he  had  not  been  nine  years  a  legally  natu 
ralized  citizen  of  the  United  States."  He  was,  however,  subsequently  elected  to 
Congress,  where  he  continued  for  six  years,  distinguished  for  his  financial  abilities, 
and  as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Democratic  party.  In  1801  he  received  from  Mr. 
JEFFERSON  the  appointment  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  which  office  he  filled, 
with  distinguished  ability,  until  the  year  1813.  He  was  one  of  the  Commissioners 
at  GHENT,  and  was  subsequently  appointed  Minister  to  the  Court  of  FRANCE, 
whence  he  returned  in  1823.  After  a  short  interval  spent  in  retirement  at 
his  residence,  New-Geneva,  he  was,  in  1826,  appointed  Minister  to  ENGLAND. 
On  his  return  he  retired  to  Baltimore,  but  soon  removed  to  New  York,  where 
he  still  resides  (1846).  His  last  appearance  in  public  life,  was  as  a  member 
of  the  Free  Trade  Convention,  which  assembled  at  Philadelphia,  in  1831,  and 
of  which  respectable  and  able  body,  it  was  intended  to  propose  him  for  President; 
but,  anticipating  the  movement,  he  rose  and  nominated  for  that  office,  Mr.  P.  P. 
BARBOUR  of  Virginia,  who  had,  for  a  single  session,  occupied  the  post  of  Speaker  of 
the  House  of  National  Representatives.  Mr.  BARBOUR  was  elected.  In  this  Con 
vention  Mr.  GALLATIN  attracted  much  attention.  His  foreign  accent,  which  was 
remarkable  considering  his  long  residence  in  the  country,  the  character  of  his  em 
ployments  and  associations, — rendered  it  extremely  difficult  to  comprehend  his 
speech,  but,  he  was,  nevertheless,  considered  an  oracle  by  the  members,— many 
of  whom — their  impracticable  object  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding, — were 
men  of  high  character  and  distinction  in  public  life, — and  when  he  rose  to  address 
the  Convention,  which  was  seldom,  he  was  closely  surrounded  by  an  eager  and 
attentive  auditory. — ED. 

30* 


354  LEADING  CHARACTERS  IN  CONVENTION. 

nihil  humani  alienum  puto  of  Terence.  May  we  never  have 
reason  to  repent  our  extreme  complacency  to  human  race — 
oratory,  whether  declaiming  on  man's  equality,  or  the  freedom 
of  the  seas  !  Wilson  was  truly  great ;  but,  enthusiastically 
democratic.  The  symptoms  of  returning  reason,  evinced  in 
the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  had,  probably,  put 
him  in  good  humour  with  the  people,  and  made  him  more 
than  ever  in  love  with  "  free  and  independent  man."  He  drew, 
to  be  sure,  a  picture  of  a  free  citizen,  in  the  act  of  disposing  of  his 
suffrage,  little  answerable  to  the  sad  realities,  which  are  found 
upon  an  election  ground.  Royalty,  with  its  most  splendid  re 
galia,  was  made  to  hide  its  diminished  head.  Nevertheless,  it 
was  a  pretty  fiction ;  and  I  will  not  deny,  that  I  did  not  listen  to 
it,  with,  perhaps,  somewhat  more  than  a  demi-conviction.  Ces 
pauvres  Savoyards  sont  si  bonnes  gens  !  as  Jean  Jacques  says. 
And  who  could  say  less  of  the  good  souls  of  Pennsylvania? 

There  was  something  singular  in  Wilson's  mode  of  arriving 
at  his  goal.  It  was  different  at  least  from  that  which  I  should 
have  taken;  and  he  appeared  studious  to  avoid  the  beaten  road. 
Still,  he  never  failed  to  throw  the  strongest  lights  on  his  sub 
ject,  and  thence,  rather  to  flash  than  elicit  conviction,  syllogisti- 
cally.  It  has  been  said,  that  he  required  preparation.  At  any 
rate,  he  produced  greater  orations  than  any  other  man  I  have 
heard ;  and  I  doubt  much  whether  the  ablest  of  those  who 
sneer  at  his  occasional  simplicities  and  "brilliant  conceits," 
would  not  have  found  him  a  truly  formidable  antagonist. 

Mr.  Lewis  furnishes  an  instance  of  what  may  be  done  by 
fortitude  and  perseverance,  in  a  pursuit  to  which  the  mind  has 
a  bias.  With  nothing  more  than  the  common  attainments  of  a 
country  school,  he  took  the  resolution  to  make  himself  a  lawyer; 
and  quitting  agricultural  employments,  he  applied  himself  for  a 
year  or  two  to  the  acquisition  of  Latin ;  after  which,  he  com 
menced  his  jurisprudential  studies  in  the  office  of  Mr.  Nicholas 
Wain,  then  in  the  first  practice  in  Philadelphia.  His  mind  ap 
peared  to  be  wholly  occupied  by  his  business ;  and  he  gave 
every  difficulty  which  occurred  a  thorough  investigation.  In  a 
word,  his  success  was  complete ;  and  from  the  first  degree  of 
eminence  at  the  Bar,  he  had  been  called  upon  to  serve  his  coun- 


LEADING  CHARACTERS  IN  CONVENTION.  355 

try  in  the  Legislature,  and  now  in  the  Convention.  He  was  not, 
however,  with  the  sage  of  Monticello,  for  confining  all  virtue 
to  the  labouring  orders  ;  though,  from  his  early  habits  in  life, 
probably  well  acquainted  with  them.  Well  knowing,  that  the 
morality  of  a  gentleman,  was  at  least  upon  a  par  with  that  of 
a  tiller  of  the  earth;  that  Don  Quixote  (supposed  a  natural 
character)  had  more  honour,  though  less  cunning  than  his 
squire,  (a  natural  character  too) ;  and  that  city  vices  are  amply 
matched  by  rustic  rogueries;  he  seemed  without  a  chosen 
people ;  and,  upon  this  occasion,  was  the  advocate  of  what  was 
called  the  aristocracy.  But  though  keen  and  fertile  in  re 
sources,  he  was,  both  from  education  and  the  bent  of  his  stu 
dies,  destitute  of  the  comprehensive  means  possessed  by  Wil 
son,  who  was  a  Scotchman  and  a  scholar,  and  had  peculiarly 
devoted  himself  to  the  researches  which  afford  materials  for 
the  construction  of  republican  institutions ;  and  which,  in  his 
hands  would  have  been  absolutely  perfect,  but  for  one  unlucky 
thing,  which  seems  to  have  eluded  his  calculations — this  was, 
that  political  data  do  not  admit  of  mathematical  results.*  Mr. 
Pickering  was  not  an  idle  member.f  His  aims  were  honoura- 

*  MADAME  DE  STAEL  is  of  a  different  opinion.  She  says,  referring  to  M.  de 
Condorcet's  Essay  on  Probabilities,  that  the  number  of  divorces,  thefts,  and  mur 
ders,  that  will  be  committed  in  a  country  where  the  population  and  the  religious 
and  political  situation  remain  the  same,  may  be  calculated  with  as  much  precision 
as  the  births  and  deaths ;  and  hence,  she  infers,  when  the  science  of  politics  shall 
have  arrived  at  her  favoured  perfectibility,  it  may  be  submitted  to  the  evidence  of 
mathematical  conclusions. 

t  COLONEL  TIMOTHY  PICKERING. — He  was  sent  by  WASHINGTON,  in  1787,  as  a 
Commissioner  to  organize  the  County  of  Luzerne,  and  to  reconcile  the  minds  of 
the  Wyoming  settlers  to  the  new  jurisdiction  of  Pennsylvania.  He  took  up  his 
abode  in  the  valley,  near  Wilkesbarre,  in  the  furtherance  of  these  objects.  He  was 
born  in  Salem,  Massachusetts,  in  1745,  and  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College,  in 
1763;  and,  after  the  necessary  preparation,  was  admitted  to  the  practice  of  the  law. 
He  was  in  the  public  service  from  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution,  almost  to 
the  close  of  hig  long  and  illustrious  life,  filling  various  elevated  and  responsible 
stations  with  great  ability  and  unquestionable  integrity.  He  was  highly  esteemed 
by  General  WASHINGTON,  and  heartily  disliked  by  Mr.  JEFFERSON,  circumstances 
which  entitle  him,  in  advance,  to  the  respect  of  his  countrymen.  He  served  faith- 
fully  and  with  distinction  during  the  war,  and  was  at  the  battles  of  Brandywine 
and  Germantown.  He  succeeded  General  GREENE  in  the  office  of  Quartermaster- 
General,  in  which  he  greatly  "contributed  to  the  surrender  of  CORNWALLIS  at  York- 


356  LEADING  CHARACTERS  IN  CONVENTION. 

ble  and  patriotic  as  those  he  has  since  pursued ;  and  his  sug 
gestions  were  the  emanations  of  right  reason  and  experience. 
General  MIFFLIN  sometimes  spoke  to  questions  of  order,  but 
nothing  more :  and  as  to  Chief  Justice  M'KEAN,  I  shall  only 
say,  that  his  conduct  gave  no  token  of  the  zeal  he  not  long 
afterwards  displayed  in  the  democratic  career.  But,  as  it  is 
the  people  who  make  governors,  Eh  !  que  faire  Mons.  Pel 
tier  ? — what  the  deuce  is  an  eager  candidate  to  do  ?  For  least 
of  all  men,  can  he  say  with  Fontaine,  in  his  tale  of  Joconde: 

Ce  n'est  pas  mon  metier  de  cajoler  personne. 

As  to  those  great  occidental  luminaries,  Messrs.  SMILIE*  and 
FiNDLAY,f  their  conduct  upon  this  occasion,  was  truly  in  cha 
racter;  ever  tremblingly  alive  to  the  soveranity  of  the  people. 
Nor,  have  their  labours  in  the  good  cause  been  less  exemplary 
than  their  zeal ;  since,  if  we  except  a  slight  eclipse  of  a  few  digits 
through  the  obtrusion  of  Washington  with  his  Federal  Consti 
tution  and  Federal  exercises,  they  have  been  constantly  glaring, 
full-orbed,  in  the  political  firmament ;  and  we  are  certainly  in 
debted  for  their  uninterrupted  public  services,  from  the  com 
mencement  of  our  independence  to  the  present  hour.  Nor 
shall  I  risk  lessening  the  merit  of  their  perseverance,  by  inquir 
ing  how  much  of  the  public  money  they  might  have  pocketed 
in  all  that  time ;  or  whether  any  other  trade  they  could  have 

town."  In  1791  he  was  made  Postmaster  General.  In  1794,  Secretary  of  War. 
In  1795,  Secretary  of  State,  from  which  office  he  was  removed,  in  1801,  by  Presi 
dent  ADAMS,  and  he  returned  to  Massachusetts.  In  1803,  he  was  chosen  by  the 
Legislature  of  that  State,  a  Senator  in  Congress,  for  an  unexpircd  term,  and  again 
in  1805.  In  1811,  he  was  chosen  by  the  Legislature  a  member  of  the  Executive 
Council  of  Massachusetts :  and,  during  the  Madisonian  war,  was  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  War  for  the  defence  of  the  State.  In  1814,  he  was  elected  to  Congress, 
where  he  continued  until  1817,  when  he  retired  finally  to  private  life.  He  died 
in  January,  1829,  in  the  eighty-fourth  year  of  his  age.  "In  private  he  was- a 
model  of  republican  simplicity — was  mild,  courteous,  and  unassuming.  In  public 
he  was  able,  energetic,  brave,  and  disinterested." — ED. 

*  JOHN  SMILIE,  subsequently  a  member  of  Congress  ;  an  active,  energetic,  and 
ardent  politician  of  the  Democratic  school. — ED. 

t  The  HON.  WILLIAM  FINDLAY,  afterwards  Senator  in  Congress,  and  three  years 
Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  from  the  year  1817.  He  was  born  at  Mercersburg, 
and  is  still  (1846)  living  in  Philadelphia.— ED. 


FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  357 

turned  their  hands  to  would  have  proved  equally  productive. 
Let  it  no  longer  be  said  that  the  people  are  ungrateful,  or  that 
virtue,  in  republics,  goes  unrewarded. 

If  Washington  has  no  tomb,  he  must  somehow  have  displeased 
the  people.  He  fought  their  battles,  it  is  true,  but  was  he  suffi 
ciently  tender  of  their  pockets ;  sufficiently  obsequious  to  their 
sovereignty  ?  did  he  tell  them,  that  he  loved  them  ?  No :  but  he 
presumed  to  differ  from  them  in  opinion,  and  give  them  advice, 
and  freemen  choose  to  think  for  themselves :  nor  will  they  sub 
mit  to  admonition  from  the  bench  or  the  pulpit.* 

During  the  sitting  of  the  Convention,  the  direful  revolution  in 
France  was  in  progress,  and  its  proceedings  sometimes  appealed 
to,  as  guides  for  our  conduct.  Though  hardly  daring  to  blame, 
and  less  impressed  than  I  ought  to  have  been  with  the  treatment 
of  the  clergy,  I  presume  no  one  ever  heard  me  praise :  for  there 
was  folly  enough  to  disgust,  before  the  appearance  of  crime ; 
and  I  thought  the  nation  was  about  to  throw  away  the  most 
amiable  part  of  its  character.  I  remember,  one  day,  at  the  table 
of  General  Mifflin,  at  this  time  President  of  the  State,  when  the 
Parisian  courtesans  were  applauded  for  contributing  their  patri 
otic  gifts,  I  ventured  to  call  in  question  the  immense  merit  of 
the  proceeding.  I  was  stared  at  by  a  pious  clergyman  for  the 
shocking  heterodoxy  of  my  sentiments;  and  should,  probably, 

*  "  The  young  American  of  the  future,  looking  back  on  the  history  of  his  country 
in  the  days  of  his  grandfathers,  may,  perchance,  find  books  enough  written  in  our 
own  times,  to  teach  him  that  what  was  called  the  old  Federal  party,  with  WASHING-  •/ 
TON  at  its  head,  and  such  men  as  JAY  and  HAMILTON  in  its  ranks,  was  a  vile  nest 
of  traitors,  busily  employed  in  the  subversion  of  American  freedom  ;  that  the  people,  I/ 
alive  to  their  machinations,  and  influenced  only  by  strong  intelligence  and  stern 
integrity,  deposed  these  unworthy  guardians  of  public  freedom;  and,  selecting  men 
who  modestly  shrank  from  notoriety,  and  whose  patriotism  was  above  suspicion, 
dragged  them  from  their  beloved  retirement,  and  forced  upon  them  office  and 
honour ;  and  that,  under  the  auspices  of  THOMAS  JEFFERSON  and  AARON  BURR, 
placed  in  the  highest  stations  as  well-tried  and  honest  friends  of  their  country,  the 
torrent  of  treason  was  checked.  But,  sometimes,  it  providentially  happens  that 
one  who  was  an  actor  in  the  busy  scenes  of  past  history  rises  up  and  tells  his 
story.  He  may  inform  us,  for  instance,  how  one  of  these  high  functionaries,  of 
patriotism  so  pure,  was  afterward  tried  for  treason  to  that  country  which  he  loved 
so  well ;  and  how  the  other,  with  the  ferocity  of  a  bloodhound,  sought  the  life  of 
his  illustrious  compeer,  because  he  stood  in  the  way  of  his  ambition." — New  York 
Revieic,  vol.  ii.  p.  191. — ED. 


358  BURKE  AND 

have  been  drawn  into  an  altercation,  no  less  disagreeable  than 
indiscreet,  had  not  the  General  in  a  friendly  manner  pacified  the 
parson  by  whispering  him  in  the  ear,  that  I  was  perfectly  well 
disposed,  and  only  sporting  an  opinion.  So  overwhelming  was 
the  infatuation,  so  ominous  the  fanaticism,  that  even  this  godly 
personage  had  quite  forgotten  that  incontinence  was  a  sin.  He 
"  could  have  hugged  the  wicked  sluts ;  they  pleased  him." 

Nearly  about  the  time  of  this  occurrence,  I  happened  to  be 
at  Reading,  where  Burke's  Reflections  on  the  French  Revolu 
tion,  with  Paine's  Rights  of  Man,  both  of  which  had  just  come 
out,  were  the  general  topic  of  conversation.  I  had  seen  neither ; 
and  when  they  were  given  me  to  read,  I  was  apprised  of  the 
delight  I  should  receive  from  the  perusal  of  Paine's  pamphlet. 
As  to  Burke,  I  was  told  it  was  heavy  and  tedious,  but  that  it 
was  necessary  to  condemn  myself  to  a  wading  through  it  first, 
for  the  sake  of  better  understanding  and  relishing  Paine's,  which 
was  in  answer  to  it.  I  read  them  ;  but  to  my  great  misfortune, 
and  contrary  to  all  expectation,  I  became  so  firm  an  adherent 
to  Burke,  that  his  opponent  made  not  the  smallest  impression. 
I  have  already  made  confessions  which  cautious  men  may  start 
at.  But  this  is  worse  than  all.  The  stolen  Ribbon  of  Rousseau 
was  nothing  to  it :  nor,  although  events  have  proved  me  right, 
is  that  of  any  consequence.  Many  other  things  have  turned  out 
right  too  ;  but  that  does  not  lessen  the  odium  of  their  early 
advocates.  It  is  the  essence  of  sound  civism  to  think  with  one's 
fellow-citizens  ;  on  no  account  to  anticipate  them ;  and  I  ought 
to  have  thought  wrong,  because  it  was  the  fashion.  Republican 
morality,  like  republican  other  things,  being  made  by  general 
suffrage,  will  not  always  take  the  trouble  to  ferret  truth  from 
her  well ;  and  as  it  is  manufactured  pro  re  nata,  on  the  spur  of 
the  occasion,  it  is  liable,  of  course,  to  gentle  fluctuations — but 
infinitely  safer,  by  the  bye,  in  practice,  than  that  of  the  old  school. 
I  here  speak  from  woful  experience. 

Under  the  administration  of  President  Washington,  the  pros 
perity  of  the  country  was  advanced  with  a  rapidity  which  ex 
ceeded  the  most  sanguine  expectation  of  the  friends  to  the  new 
system.  It  afforded  a  cheering  example  of  what  a  republic  is 
capable,  whose  councils  are  solely  directed  with  a  view  to  the 


WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  359 

general  good ;  and  if  ever  a  portion  of  the  human  race  was  in 
that  auspicious  predicament,  it  was  that  composing  the  popula 
tion  of  these  United  States.*  But  what  is  the  general  prospe 
rity  to  hearts  that  are  torn  by  the  furies  of  disappointed  ambition 
or  avarice  !  It  is  but  as  paradise  to  the  foe  of  mankind,  engen 
dering  a  more  deadly  venom  in  the  tortured  soul,  soothing 
itself  with  the  dire  imagery  of  Claudian's  Alecto. 

Siccine  tranquillo  produci  seecula  cursu  ? 

Sic  fortunatas  patiemur  viveres  gentes  ?  &c.  &c. 

Unfortunately  there  was  no  proportion  between  the  offices  to  be 
disposed  of,  and  the  persons  who  had  been  in  expectancy.  No 
thing  less  than  miraculous  power  could  have  so  distributed  the 
loaves  and  fishes  as  to  fill  the  immense  multitude  that  hungered 
for  them ;  and  the  dissatisfied  only  repined  at  a  success,  which, 

*  All  this  is  now  historical  and  requires  no  illustration.  Yet,  in  the  year  1796, 
the  "  Sage  of  Monticello"  thus  wrote  to  MAZZEI,  an  Italian  who  had  resided  in 
this  country,  and  with  whom  the  "  Sage"  had  formed  an  intimacy : 

"The  aspect  of  our  politics  has  wonderfully  changed  since  you  left  us.  In  place 
of  that  noble  love  of  liberty  and  republican  government  which  carried  us  triumph 
antly  through  the  war,  an  Anglican  Monarchical  and  Aristocratical  Party  has 
sprung  up,  whose  avowed  object  is  to  draw  over  us  the  substance,  as  they  have 
already  done  the  forms,  of  the  British  Government.  The  main  body  of  our  citizens, 
however,  remain  true  to  their  republican  principles  ;  the  whole  landed  interest  is 
republican,  and  so  is  a  great  mass  of  the  talents.  Against  us  are  the  Executive, 
the  Judiciary,  two  out  of  the  three  branches  of  the  legislature,  all  the  officers  of  the 
government,  all  who  want  to  be  officers,  all  timid  men  who  prefer  the  calm  of 
despotism  to  the  boisterous  sea  of  liberty ;  British  merchants,  and  Americans  trad 
ing  on  British  capitals,  speculators  and  holders  in  the  banks  and  public  funds,  a 
contrivance  invented  for  the  purposes  of  corruption,  and  for  assimilating  us  in  all 
things  to  the  rotten,  as  well  as  the  sound  parts  of  the  British  model.  It  would 
give  you  a  fever,  were  I  to  name  to  you  the  apostates  who  have  gone  over  to  these 
heresies,  men  who  were  Samsons  in  the  field,  and  Solomons  in  the  council,  but 
who  have  had  their  heads  shorn  by  the  harlot  England." 

The  vanity  of  the  Italian  was  not  proof  against  the  temptation  to  inform  the 
world  that  he  was  in  correspondence  with  this  philosopher,  and  the  letter  found  its 
way,  much  to  the  chagrin  and  annoyance  of  its  writer,  into  the  French  news 
papers.  Mr.  Jefferson  attempted  to  explain,  but  it  was  an  embarrassing  business, 
and  he  could  not,  satisfactorily,  dispose  of  it.  By  "  the  Executive"  he  did  not 
mean  the  President;  and  by  "Samsons  in  the  field,"  he  did  mean  the  Society  of 
the  Cincinnati,  &c.  &c. 

"  Oh !  what  a  tangled  web  we  weave, 
When  first  we  practice  to  deceive  !" — ED. 


360  PARTY"    DISSENSIONS. 

in  giving  happiness  to  the  community,  promised  stability  to  the 
rulers  whose  labours,  had  procured  it,  and,  in  so  doing,  seemed 
to  ratify  the  blanks  as  well  as  prizes  which  had  been  drawn.  In 
each  of  the  States,  there  were,  no  doubt,  numerous  malecontents ; 
but  they  probably  most  abounded  in  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania. 
In  the  former  there  was  a  number  of  aspirants  for  high  office, 
who  could  illy  brook,  that  while  they,  in  their  closets,  remote 
from  the  din  of  arms  and  clangour  of  trumpets,  had  been  quali 
fying  themselves  for  the  great  affairs  of  the  new  empire  coming 
out  ready  made  to  their  hands,  others,  who  had  spent  their  youth 
in  the  unlettered  business  of  the  camp,  should  be  preferred  to 
employments  they  deemed  exclusively  due  to  their  own  superior 
attainments.  Mr.  Jefferson*  and  Mr.  Randolph  had  indeed  been 
gratified  with  places,  but  there  were  others  equally  ardent  for 
them,  unprovided  for;  and  other  motives  concurring,  the  native 
State  of  the  President  was  perhaps  the  most  refractory  in  the 
Union.  The  chagrin  in  Pennsylvania  did  not  proceed  from 
precisely  the  same  causes.  The  discontented  here  had  hardly 
looked  for  the  flattering  notice  of  the  General  Government;  but 
they  felt,  (I  speak  of  them  in  the  aggregate,  with  due  latitude 
for  honest  exceptions,)  that  their  intriguing  parts  would  be  mi 
serably  circumscribed  by  the  operation  of  the  new  system ;  and 
that  on  a  theatre,  where  talents  and  character  were  the  sole  re 
commendation  to  office  and  consequence,  their  chance  of  influ 
ence  was  a  very  sorry  one.  Far  different  was  it  in  the  State 
government,  in  which  they  had  been  accustomed  to  shine  and 
to  dictate.  There  a  little  learning  would  go  a  great  way  ;  and 
cunning  was  a  quality  of  infinitely  more  advantage  to  the  pos 
sessor  than  wisdom  or  true  ability;  and  though  the  State 
authorities  were  still  in  force,  they  were  no  longer  supreme,  but 
subordinate.  I  am  aware  that  this  representation  does  not 
agree  with  the  prevalent  idea  of  our  party  dissensions.  This 
recognises,  with  very  little  discrimination,  a  lofty  tone  and  aris- 
tocratical  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  federalists  ;  while,  on  that 
of  their  opponents,  it  discovers  an  ardent  concern  for  the 

*  Mr.  JEFFERSON  had  been  appointed  Secretary  of  State ;   and  EDMUND  RAN- 
DOLPH,  also  of  Virginia,  Attorney. General. — ED. 


PARTY  DISSENSIONS.  361 

people's  rights,  somewhat  more  jealous,  perhaps,  than  necessary, 
and  an  enthusiastic  attachment  to  liberty,  excessive  indeed,  but 
even  amiable  in  its  extravagance.  That  this  enthusiasm  or  fa 
naticism  had  once  existed,  may  be  granted;  but  to  admit  that 
it  prevails  to  any  degree  at  present,  would  require  a  determina 
tion  to  believe  in  defiance  of  the  clearest  evidence  to  the  con 
trary,  since  they  who  are  or  were  supposed  to  have  it,  are  con 
spicuous  for  an  overweening  partiality  for  the  most  flagitious 
and  desolating  system  of  arbitrary  rule  that  was  ever  established 
to  an  equal  extent  upon  mankind,  without  even  being  disguised 
by  a  mollifying  appellation.  My  hypothesis,  therefore,  must  ab 
solutely  exclude  the  love  of  liberty  and  equal  rights,  as  a  general 
feeling,  among  the  democrats  of  the  day,  not  only  now,  but  in 
time  past.  Whatever  benevolent  motives  they  might  claim,  it 
is  perfectly  fair  to  conclude,  that  they  were  actuated  by  a  head 
long  instinct  of  self-love ;  a  blind,  infuriate  impulse,  prompting 
those  possessed  with  it,  to  remove,  at  whatever  price,  every  ob 
stacle  to  the  consummation  of  their  unhallowed  purpose,  of  rising 
upon  the  rubbish  of  widespread  havoc  and  devastation.  It  is 
no  objection  to  this  supposition,  that  many  of  the  democratical 
leaders  had  too  much  property  themselves  to  favour  such  an 
object.  They  might  not  all  have  been  aware  of  it ;  and  those 
that  were,  no  doubt  entertained  the  idea  that  they  could  restrain 
their  instruments  when  necessary;  or  even  if  they  could  not, 
they  should,  at  all  events,  escape  unhurt  in  virtue  of  their  fel 
lowship.  This  is  the  unction,  which  in  these  cases  is  always 
laid  to  the  soul :  nor  can  it  be  supposed,  that  the  Duke  of  Or 
leans  thought  his  head  in  the  smallest  danger  from  those  he  had 
kindly  helped  by  his  vote  to  the  head  of  the  king. 

As  to  the  great  leader  of  the  opposition,  there  is  reason  to 
believe,  he  was  head,  heart,  and  hand  in  the  noble  project  of  re 
novating,  by  first  destroying,  the  world.  Tout  detruire,  oui  tout 
detruire ;  puisque  tout  est  recreer,  says  Mons.  Robaud  de  St. 
Etienne.  He  had  been  in  France,  and  drank  deep  of  her  lite 
rature  and  philosophy.  His  official  doings  and  messages  show 
his  utter  contempt  for  un  vrai  trivial,  un  clarte  trop  familiaire ; 
and  that  he  was  wholly  of  that  school,  which  teaches,  as  Mr. 
Burke  tells  us,  "  that  any  good  arising  from  religion  or  morality 
31 


362  PARTY  DISSENSIONS MR.  JEFFERSON. 

may  be  better  supplied  by  a  civic  education,  founded  in  a  know 
ledge  of  the  physical  wants  of  men,  progressively  carried  to  an 
enlightened  self-interest,  which,  when  wrell  understood,  will  iden 
tify  with  an  interest  more  enlarged  and  public."  Robespierre, 
to  be  sure,  gave  an  unlucky  illustration  of  this  fine  doctrine  in 
France.  His  enlightened  self-interest  gave  him  clearly  to  per 
ceive,  that  as  he  aspired  to  sovereign  rule  himself,  so  others  did 
the  same ;  and  that,  therefore,  unless  he  sent  them  to  their  eter 
nal  sleep,  they  would  do  as  much  for  him.  But  in  America,  it 
has  turned  out  better ;  and  the  enlightened  self-interest  which 
prompted  Mr.  Jefferson  to  cast  an  eye  upon  the  presidency,*  has 
most  edify ingly  identified  with  the  interests  of  the  mouth  of  la 
bour ;  if  not  the  whole,  at  least  a  very  essential  part  of  the 
public.  This  mouth  of  labour,  by  the  bye,  is  one  of  the  fine 
figures  of  speech,  by  means  of  which  this  gentleman  has  been 
enabled  to  triumph  over  the  popularity  even  of  Washington ;  al 
though  it  is  sacrilegiously  thought  by  some  to  savour  a  little  of 
that  jargon,  which  the  same  Mr.  Burke  somewhat  harshly  de 
nominates,  "  the  patois  of  fraud,  the  cant  and  gibberish  of  hypo- 


*  Of  this  "enlightened  self-interest,"  and  the  enlightened  tactics  which  enabled 
Mr.  JEFFERSON  to  triumph,  there  are  extant  very  remarkable  and  satisfactory  proofs. 

DAVIS,  in  his  Life  of  BURR,  says,  "  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that,  previous  to  the 
balloting  in  Congress,  [for  President,]  all  parties  and  sections  of  parties  concurred 
in  the  opinion  that  the  election  would  finally  be  determined,  as  it  was,  by  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  and  Maryland.  These  three  states  would  render  the  election 
of  Colonel  BURR  certain ;  two  of  them  could  elect  Mr.  JEFFERSON.  The  vote  of  New 
York  was  to  be  decided  by  THEODORUS  BAILY,  of  Duchess  County,  and  EDWARD 
LIVINGSTON,  of  the  City  of  New  York;  the  vote  of  New  Jersey,  by  Mr.  LINN;  and 
the  vote  of  Maryland,  by  Mr.  DENT,  or  Mr.  BAER."  The  New  York  Review,  in 
commenting  upon  this  passage,  holds  the  following  significant  language  : 

"  What  was  the  future  history  of  these  gentlemen  ?  Mr.  BAILY  was  made  Post- 
master  of  the  City  of  New  York,  Mr.  LIVINGSTON  was  appointed  United  States 
District  Attorney  for  the  district  of  New  York,  Mr.  LINN  became  supervisor  of 
internal  revenue  for  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  and  Mr.  DENT  was  appointed  United 
States'  Marshal  for  the  Potomac  District  of  Maryland.  It  is  a  marvellously  strik 
ing  coincidence  that  these  gentlemen  should  thus  all  have  been  honoured  with 
appointments  to  offices  in  the  President's  gift.  Doubtless  the  only  inquiries,  con- 
cerning  each,  were,  is  he  honest— is  he  capable— is  he  faithful  to  the  Constitution  ? 
It  is  refreshing  to  turn  away  from  the  traitorous  conspiracies  of  the  wicked 
Federalists,  and  dwell  with  lingering  delight  on  such  immaculate  patriotism  as 
this."— ED. 


MR.  JEFFERSON STATE  OF  PARTIES.  363 

crisy."  But  we,  on  this  side  of  the  water,  ought  to  have  more 
indulgence  for  a  trade  growing  out  of  our  institutions.  As  the 
people  give  power,  and  power  promotes  thrift,  the  people  may 
certainly  be  complimented  a  little ;  and  hence,  intolerance  to 
wards  demagogues,  may  fairly  be  ranked  among  the  anti-repub 
lican  tendencies.  No  censure,  therefore,  is  aimed  at  one  who 
is  the  quintessence  of  good  republicanism,  and  too  pure  to  take 
a  stain,  though  fondling  with  imperialism.  For  my  own  part, 
I  am  elated  with  the  opportunity  of  recording  my  veneration 
for  a  patriot  who  has  so  rapidly  advanced  the  morals  of  this 
new  world,  and  whose  scrupulous  observance  of  truth  pre-emi 
nently  entitles  him  to  the  motto  of  vitam  impendere  vero. 

The  French  revolution  then,  from  the  attachment  now  shown 
by  the  Jeffersonians  to  the  absolute  despotism  that  has  been  pro 
duced  by  it,  it  is  fair  to  conclude,  was  less  beloved  by  them  for 
any  philanthropic  disposition  it  manifested,  than  from  its  being 
an  engine  wherewith  to  assail  their  adversaries  in  power ;  and 
it  was  so  much  the  better  adapted  to  this  purpose,  as  it  was  in 
conflict  with  Britain,  that  accursed  island,  which,  in  the  opinion 
of  all  sound  Jacobins,  ought  long  since  to  have  been  sunk  in  the 
sea.  To  declare  a  neutrality,  therefore,  with  respect  to  the  belli 
gerents,  as  was  done  by  the  administration,  what  was  it  but  a  base 
dereliction  of  the  cause  of  republicanism — a  most  enormous  act 
of  ingratitude  to  those  liberty-loving  men,  who  had  benevolently 
taken  off  the  head  of  Louis  the  Sixteenth,  our  late  generous  ally 
and  "  protector  of  the  rights  of  man  ?'  and  who,  by  so  doing, 
had  made  themselves  the  undoubted  heirs  of  the  immense  debt 
of  gratitude  we  had  contracted  with  the  murdered  monarch  1 
On  the  score  of  this  gratitude  transferred,  can  it  ever  be  forgot 
ten,  what  a  racket  was  made  with  the  citizen  Genet?  The 
most  enthusiastic  homage  was  too  cold  to  welcome  his  arrival ; 
and  his  being  the  first  minister  of  the  infant  republic,  "  fruit  of 
her  throes,  and  first  born  of  her  loves,"  was  dwelt  upon  as  a  most 
endearing  circumstance.  What  hugging  and  tugging  !  What 
addressing  and  caressing  !  What  mountebanking  and  chanting  ! 
with  liberty-caps,  and  other  wretched  trumpery  of  sans  culotte 
foolery ! 

"  Give  me  an  ounce  of  civet,  good  apothecary,  to  sweeten  my  imagination !" 


364  STATE  OF  PARTIES. 

In  short,  it  was  evident  that  the  government  was,  if  possible, 
to  be  forced  from  its  neutrality ;  and  that  nothing  less  than  a 
common  cause  with  France,  a  war  of  extermination  with  Eng 
land  and  the  other  monarchies  of  Europe,  would  satisfy  the  men 
who  are  now  so  outrageously  pacific  as  to  divest  themselves  of 
the  means  of  annoyance  and  defence,  and  to  place  their  glory 
in  imitating  the  shrinking  policy  of  a  reptile.*  Fortunately  for 
the  nation,  Washington  was  at  the  head  of  it ;  or  the  rage  for 
universal  republicanism,  combining  with  the  plea  of  gratitude 
derived  from  Jacobin  morality,  would  have  riveted  us  in  liege 
subjection  to  the  imperial  Napoleon,  f 

*  "  As  events  rolled  on,  one  circumstance  and  another  conspired  to  mark  more 
distinctly  the  lines  between  the  parties  of  the  day,  and  at  the  period  of  the  election 
of  the  third  President  of  the  United  States,  they  were  very  clearly  defined  through- 
out  the  Union,  under  the  names  of  Federalists  and  Democrats.  In  the  first  class 
were  to  be  found  WASHINGTON,  HAMILTON,  JAY,  PICKERING,  AMES,  MARSHALL,  and 
others  like  them  ;  the  last  enrolled  in  its  list  JEFFERSON,  BURR,  GEORGE  CLINTON, 
MADISON,  and  many  more  throughout  the  State." — NewYoik  Rev.  ii.  p.  192. — ED. 

t  By  drawing  themselves  within  the  shell  like  a  tortoise,  and  thence  called  the 
Terrapin  system  of  policy. 


YELLOW  FEVER.  365 


CHAPTER  XV. 


Yellow  Fever. —  Marsh  Effluvia. — Popular  Feelings  towards  France.  —  Party 
Feelings. — A  Threatened  Insurrection  suppressed  by  the  President. — The 
Western  Expedition. — Address  to  the  President. — French  Party.— Treaty  with 
Great  Britain  Opposed.  —  Rochefoucault. —  French  Travellers.  —  M.  Talon. — 
Genet.— Washington's  Retirement. — Character  of  Washington. 

SUCH  was  the  state  of  parties  in  the  summer  of  1793,  when 
the  metropolis  of  Pennsylvania,  then  resounding  with  unhallowed 
orgies  at  the  dismal  butcheries  in  France,  was  visited  with  a 
calamity,  which  had  much  the  appearance  of  one  of  those  in 
flictions  which  Heaven  sometimes  sends  to  purify  the  heart.  A 
disease  that  was  soon  recognised  to  be  the  pestilential  yellow 
fever,  carried  off  several  persons  early  in  the  month  of  August ; 
and  gradually  spreading  in  all  directions,  raged  with  the  most 
fatal  malignancy  until  the  close  of  October.  Those  whose 
property  enabled  them  to  do  it,  fled  with  precipitation  from  the 
city,  which  was  supposed  to  have  been  deserted  by  half  its 
inhabitants ;  but  enough  remained  behind  to  swell  the  mortality 
to  several  thousands.  The  dismay  was,  if  possible,  increased 
by  the  disagreement  of  .the  physicians  as  to  the  mode  of  treating 
the  disorder ;  and  numbers,  who  had  exulted  in  the  havoc  of 
their  kind,  because  belonging  to  a  different  class,  feeling  death 
to  be  a  serious  evil  when  brought  home  to  themselves,  shrunk 
appalled  with  abject  terror,  at  the  dangers  which  surrounded 
them. 

To  each  his  suff 'rings  :  all  are  men, 

Condemn'd  alike  to  groan, 
The  tender  for  another's  pain, 

Th'  unfeeling  for  his  own. 

A  general  gloom  pervaded  the  country ;  for  although  the  ravages 

31* 


366  YELLOW  FEVER. 

of  the  disease  were  yet  confined  to  Philadelphia,  it  was  not  sup 
posed  they  would  remain  within  these  limits,  notwithstanding 
that  every  precaution  which  the  most  unfeeling  vigilance  could 
suggest,  was  used,  to  prevent  the  spreading  of  the  pestilence. 
Measures  were  taken  in  almost  every  town  and  village  to  pro 
hibit  the  entry  of  persons  suspected  of  infection ;  and  even  fugi 
tives  from  the  seat  of  it,  though  in  health,  were  regarded  with  a 
jealous  eye.  Some  of  the  people  of  Harrisburg  were  for  fol 
lowing  the  example  of  their  neighbours,  though  a  malady  not 
less  fatal  than  that  in  Philadelphia,  was  raging  among  them 
selves.  But  the  difference  was,  that  one  was  called  a  plague, 
the  other  but  a  simple  fever.  It  is  somewhat  remarkable,  that  if 
the  yellow  fever  is  of  foreign  origin,  as  insisted  upon  by  many, 
that  a  disease  of  a  similar  type  should  make  its  appearance  at 
the  same  time  on  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna,  at  the  distance 
of  a  hundred  miles.  Shall  we  say,  that  the  state  of  the  atmo 
sphere  which  generated  the  one  was  favourable  to  the  diffusion 
of  the  other  ?  This,  I  believe,  is  the  doctrine  of  those  who  con 
tend  that  the  yellow  fever  is  of  exotic  growth,  and  always 
imported,  when  it  appears  among  us.  It  would  be  highly  pre 
sumptuous  in  me  to  undertake  to  decide,  when  "  doctors  dis 
agree  ;"  but  that  a  state  of  the  air  should  be  favourable  and 
adequate  to  the  diffusion,  but  not  to  the  origination  of  a  conta 
gion,  is  certainly  refining  somewhat  nicely.  I  venture,  however, 
no  opinion  upon  the  subject.  With  respect  to  the  mortality 
produced  by  the  two  diseases,  that  at  Harrisburg  was,  I  believe, 
in  proportion  to  the  population  of  the  place,  as  great  as  that  at 
Philadelphia.  I  cannot  take  upon  me  minutely  to  describe  the 
symptoms  of  the  Harrisburg  disease,  nor  were  they  the  same 
in  all  that  were  sick,  but  a  general  one  was,  an  affection  of  the 
stomach,  or  nausea  with  violent  retchings  and  a  yellowness  of 
the  skin.  Some  were  ill  a  week,  some  longer,  some  died  in  two 
or  three  days  from  the  time  of  their  being  seized,  and  others, 
who  were  walking  about  with  symptoms  only  of  the  ague,  sud 
denly  took  ill  and  expired.  The  black  vomit,  which  has  some 
times  been  supposed  peculiar  to  the  yellow  fever,  appeared  in 
some  cases.  I  was  attacked  with  a  quartan  ague  about  the 


MARSH  EFFLUVIA.  367 

middle  of  September,  but  had  none  of  the  grievous  symptoms  of 
the  malignant  fever  which  prevailed. 

Whatever  may  be  the  points  of  discrimination  between  the 
bilious  and  yellow  fever,  the  origination  of  the  one  seems  to 
depend  on  the  same  cause  which  spreads  the  other ;  and  this 
appears  to  be  a  torrid  sun  acting  upon  a  moist  soil,  or  upon  im 
pure  and  stagnant  water.  The  matter  which  produces  agues, 
and  which,  according  to  Doctor  Cullen,  is  miasmata  alone,  is,  I 
take  it,  competent  also  to  the  generation  of  bilious  fever  in  habits 
disposed  to  it ;  and  if  not  to  the  generation,  at  least  to  the  pro 
pagation  or  spreading  of  the  yellow  fever;  wherefore,  the 
vapours  from  low  and  marshy  situations  and  waters,  rendered 
baneful  from  certain  adventitious  circumstances,  may  be  pro 
nounced  to  be  the  support  or  aliment  of  all  these  diseases,  more 
peculiarly  of  the  latter  perhaps,  when  the  exhalations  are 
rendered  more  than  commonly  noxious  from  the  general  state 
of  the  atmosphere.  Egypt,  Syria,  and  Turkey,  are  at  once  the 
seat  of  the  plague,  and  of  bilious  and  intermitting  fevers. 

But  the  deleterious  effects  of  marsh  effluvia  in  warm  climates, 
have  perhaps  been  known  from  the  earliest  time.  They  are  at 
least  recognised  by  Silius  Italicus,  who  wrote  in  the  reign  of 
Nero.  Speaking  of  a  pestilence  which  raged  in  the  Roman 
army  in  the  second  Punic  war,  he  ascribes  it  to  the  fervid  rays 
of  the  sun,  acting  upon  the  stagnant  and  widespread  waters  of 
the  Cyane. 

Criniger  astriferis  Titan  fervoribus  auras 
Et  patulam  Cyanam,  late  palustribus  undis 
Stagnantem,  stygio  Cocyti  opplevit  odore. 

This  cause  existed  at  Harrisburg.  A  mill-dam  had  been 
erected  the  season  before  on  the  Paxton,  rather  a  turbid  and 
sluggish  stream,  within  five  or  six  hundred  yards  of  the  middle 
of  the  town,  on  its  eastern  side.  The  obstruction  must  have 
spread  the  water  over  a  surface  of  from  eight  to  ten  acres ;  and 
this,  co-operating  with  a  state  of  the  atmosphere  unusually  mor 
bid  this  season  in  such  situations,  may  fully  account  for  the 
fever  which  prevailed.  In  the  fall  of  the  year  1792,  there  were 
some  cases  of  it,  and  still  more  in  that  of  1794,  equally  malig- 


368  POPULAR  FEELING  TOWARDS  FRANCE. 

nant ;  after  which  the  mill-dam  was  removed.  I  have  been  the 
more  particular  on  this  subject,  though  without  being  able  to 
offer  any  thing  satisfactory,  from  knowing  it  to  have  been  a 
matter  of  some  interest  with  the  physicians  of  Philadelphia,  to 
ascertain  the  nature  of  the  Harrisburg  disease ;  thence  to  de 
duce  data  towards  the  solution  of  the  question,  whether  the 
yellow  fever,  as  appearing  in  our  cities,  be,  or  not,  a  malady  of 
exclusively  foreign  origin. 

The  distress  I  saw  around  me ;  the  dismal  tidings  from  Phila- 
ladelphia;  and  above  all,  the  frightful  mania  which  had  taken 
possession  of  a  vast  majority  of  my  fellow-citizens,  induced  a 
dejection  of  mind  I  had  never  before  experienced.  I  had  been 
for  some  time  labouring  to  stem  the  torrent  of  fanaticism  among 
my  townsmen ;  but  to  no  other  purpose  than  that  of  increasing 
their  violence,  and  drawing  down  upon  myself  the  denunciation 
of  being  inimical  to  liberty  and  an  unnatural  partisan  of  Eng 
land.  Tt  was  in  vain  I  urged  that  I  was  only  treading  in  the 
steps  of  the  President,  whom  all  pretended  to  revere ;  that  he 
had  chosen  for  his  country  the  path  of  neutrality,*  and  that  it 
was  the  duty  of  all  good  citizens  to  acquiesce  in  it,  until  it  should 
be  abandoned  by  those  who  were  legally  constituted  to  say 
what  should  be  the  state  of  the  nation  in  relation  to  the  powers 
at  war.  The  bringing  of  the  name  of  Washington  to  my  aid, 
produced  no  sort  of  embarrassment  among  the  maniacs  for  re 
generation,  who,  in  the  same  breath,  extolled  him  to  the  skies 
and  denounced  perdition  on  those  who  supported  his  policy.  In 
fact,  his  name  was  constantly  used  to  sanction  the  measures  of 
his  opponents ;  and  even  in  the  contest  for  the  presidency  be 
tween  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Jefferson,  it  is  a  matter  of  notoriety, 
that  his  dislike  to  the  administration  of  the  former  was  atro 
ciously  asserted,  in  defiance  of  his  letter  announcing  his  accep- 

*  The  cabinet  of  WASHINGTON  decided,  unanimously,  that  a  proclamation  should 
be  issued,  "  forbidding  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  take  part  in  any  hosti 
lities  on  the  seas,  either  with  or  against  the  belligerent  powers,  and  warning  them 
against  carrying  to  any  such  powers  any  of  those  articles  deemed  contraband  ac- 
cording  to  the  modern  usages  of  nations,  and  enjoining  them  from  all  acts  and 
proceedings  inconsistent  with  the  duties  of  a  friendly  nation  towards  those  at  war." 
— Sparks1  Life  of  Washington. — ED. 


PARTY  FEELING. 

tance  of  the  command  of  the  army,  and  unqualified  approbation 
of  the  steps  which  had  been  taken.  It  has  been  said,  that  hell 
itself  cannot  be  governed  without  some  degree  of  truth ;  and  if 
so,  for  policy-sake  at  least,  we  ought  not  wholly  to  discard  her. 
My  indignation  at  this  base  dereliction  of  every  honourable  and 
moral  principle,  conspiring  with  my  firm  conviction  that  my 
opinions  were  correct,  made  me  an  enthusiast  in  the  cause  I  had 
espoused ;  and  the  feeble  efforts  of  my  pen  were  employed  in 
vindicating  the  conduct  of  administration.  In  exposing  the  folly, 
the  frenzy,  the  duplicity  and  hideous  wickedness  of  its  adversa 
ries,  I  derived  an  additional  incentive  to  exertion,  from  the 
consideration,  that  the  civilized  world  was  so  singularly  circum 
stanced,  that  good  men  of  every  nation  and  country  had  a 
common  cause  to  maintain  ;  and,  that  in  the  threatened  universal 
wreck,  conditions  were  so  confounded,  that  even  the  private 
American  citizen  might  feel  himself  nearly  on  the  same  eminence 
with  those  great  and  truly  enlightened  European  statesmen,  who 
were  labouring  to  avert  the  impending  desolation:  as  in  a 
vessel  in  danger  of  foundering,  the  navigator's  skill  is,  at  the 
moment,  of  no  account ;  and  the  meanest  hand  on  board,  may 
be  engaged  in  stopping  the  leak  and  plying  the  pump,  to  as  much 
effect  as  the  captain.  But  of  what  use  are  endeavours  to  fix 
the  charge  of  swindling  on  a  political  adversary  1  He  denies 
it,  and  retorts  the  accusation.  Thus,  with  two-thirds  of  the 
peopb,  who  are  incapable  of  investigating  the  truth,  did 
they  even  think  it  worth  their  pains  to  do  so,  the  parties  as  to 
honesty,  are  left  upon  a  level;  and,  hence,  as  the  sovereign 
has  no  objection  to  being  deceived,  he  will  be  deceived,  and 
villany  will  be  triumphant.  Such  has  been,  and  will  be,  the 
common  effect  of  appeals  to  Mr.  Jefferson's  Bar  of  Public 
Reason,  which,  if  the  phrase  be  not  intended  as  a  sarcasm  upon 
the  tribunal,  it  must  be  meant  as  a  cruel  mockery  of  those  who 
are  interested  in  just  decisions  from  it.* 

*  The  writer  of  these  observations  is  not  ignorant  that  writing  in  this  strain  of 
remark,  subjects  him,  in  the  eyes  of  your  able  politicians,  to  the  imputation  of  ex- 
treme  folly.  Who,  say  they,  but  an  arrant  oaf  could  expect  to  succeed  in  a  go- 
vernment  of  popular  sovereignty,  by  reason  and  good  faith  ?  The  people  must  be 
deceived ;  and  to  be  induced  to  be  led  by  men  of  rank  and  intelligence,  their  proper 


370  PARTY  FEELINGS. 

Among  the  abominations  of  this  rage  for  French  liberty  and 
fraternity,  there  has  been  all  along  an  utter  disregard  of  the 
most  obvious  dictates  of  justice,  humanity,  and  consistency.  In 
the  beginning,  the  Revolution  must  at  all  events  go  on :  ca  ira 
was  the  word,  and  no  matter  by  what  monsters  the  business  was 
conducted.  Power,  for  this  reason,  was  always  the  criterion 
of  right :  and  Robespierre,  until  his  head  was  ascertained  to  be 
off,  was  no  less  popi.lar  with  us  than  the  best  of  his  predecessors. 
And  for  what  was  this  horrible  sacrifice  of  every  thing  we  had 
heretofore  been  taught  to  consider  as  virtuous  and  honest  ?  To 
destroy  kings  and  nobles,  monarchy  and  aristocracy,  and  to 
make  a  huge  republic  of  the  world,  wherein  all  men  were  to  be 
equal ;  or  if  there  should,  perad venture,  be  a  little  temporary 
inequality,  it  should  alone  be  founded  on  the  uninvidious  pre 
eminence  of  intellectual  acuteness  in  the  acquisition  of  pelf,  or 
popular  suffrage ;  sound  titles,  without  question  to  superiority 
among  men  !  Colonel  Chartres,*  for  instance,  among  the  first, 


leaders,  their  prejudices  must  be  humoured, — they  must  be  flattered  and  cajoled. 
But,  if  it  be  really  so,  for  the  interests  of  morality,  and  the  safety  and  honour  of 
the  community,  he  must  say,  in  his  turn,  that  it  is  matter  of  no  very  poignant  re- 
gret  how  soon  such  form  of  government  is  exchanged  for  another,  prosper  who 
may  by  the  demagogue  game.  The  reader,  nevertheless,  will  do  him  egregious 
wrong,  if  he  concludes,  from  the  remarks  of  this  kind  scattered  through  his  work, 
that  he  is  a  friend  to  arbitrary  rule, — or  yet  disposed  to  part  with  our  present  sys 
tem,  however  much  abused.  The  remarks  are  the  effect  of  an  uncontrollable  in. 
dignation  at  seeing  the  fair  fabric  of  liberty  we  have  reared,  defaced  by  unhallowed 
hands,  and  daily  dilapidating  under  the  sapping  process  of  pretended  patriots. 
But  so  averse  is  man  from  giving  himself  a  master,  that  though  almost  despairing 
of  the  reappearance  of  the  day  when  honest  men  shall  emerge  from  their  degrada 
tion,  and  the  real  friends  of  the  people  be  again  taken  into  favour,  he  would  not  yet 
be  among  the  last  to  oppose  monarchical  encroachments.  If  we  would  look  for  the 
persons  most  likely  to  favour  these,  we  shall  find  them  in  that  class,  who  consider 
government  as  a  source  of  selfish  emolument,  and  always  use  it  for  that  purpose, 
whatever  form  it  assume.  The  demagogue  and  the  court  favourite,  says  Mr.  BURKE, 
in  a  quotation  from  Aristotle,  are  not  unfrequently  the  same  identical  men. 

*  Damned  to  an  eternal  infamy  of  fame  by  POPE  and  ARBUTH.NOT.  This  wretch 
was  infamous  for  all  manner  of  vices,  and  the  point  of  the  allusion  will  be  better 
understood  by  a  quotation  from  POPE,  and  the  celebrated  character  of  him,  in  the 
form  of  an  epitaph,  by  DR.  ARBUTHNOT.  The  former,  speaking  of  money,  and 
doubting  whether  its  invention  has  been  more  useful  than  injurious  to  mankind, 
says,— 


PARTY  FEELINGS.  371 

and  names  beginning  with  every  letter  of  the  alphabet  among 
the  latter.  But  since  this  great  republic  has  not  come,  or  since, 
at  least,  it  has  not  come  precisely  in  the  form  that  was  pre 
dicted,  having  clothed  itself  in  imperial  purple,  instead  of  the 
plain  homespun  garb  in  which  it  was  expected  to  appear ;  and, 
having,  moreover,  in  the  place  of  its  former  hosts  of  patriotic 
citizens  and  citesses,  presented  us  with  dukes  and  titled  men  in 
numerable,  with  its  Abrantes,  its  Cadores,  its  Ponte  Corvos  and 
Beneventos,  what  is  the  ground  of  our  attachment  now  to  the 
great  nation  ?  To  restore  the  freedom  of  the  seas,  and  destroy 
that  Pandora's  box  of  human  ills,  Great  Britain.  Wisely  an 
swered  again,  and  shrewd  and  patriotic  must  be  the  men  who 

"And  I,  who  think  more  highly  of  our  kind, 
(And  surely,  Heav'n  and  I  are  of  a  mind,) 
Opine,  that  nature,  as  in  duty  bound, 
Deep  hid  the  shining  mischief  under  ground  : 
But.  when  by  man's  audacious  labour  won, 
Flam'd  forth  this  rival  to  its  sire,  the  sun, 
Then  careful  Heav'n  supplied  two  sorts  of  men, 
To  squander  These,  and  Those  to  hide  again. 
Like  Doctors  thus,  when  much  dispute  has  past, 
We  find  our  tenets  just  the  same  at  last. 
Both  fairly  owning,  Riches,  in  effect, 
No  grace  of  Heav'n  or  token  of  the  elect; 
Giv'n  to  the  fool,  the  mad,  the  vain,  the  evil, 
To  Ward,  to  Waters,  CHARTRES,  and  the  Devil!" 

The  Epitaph  is  as  follows ;  it  conveys  a  moral,  and  no  apology  is  offered  for  its 
insertion  here  : 

"  Here  continucth  to  rot  the  body  of  Francis  Chartres,  who,  with  an  inflexible 
constancy  and  inimitable  uniformity  of  life,  persisted,  in  spite  of  age  and  infirmi 
ties,  in  the  practice  of  every  human  vice,  excepting  prodigality  and  hypocrisy ; 
his  insatiable  avarice  exempted  him  from  the  first,  his  matchless  impudence  from 
the  second.  Nor  was  he  more  singular  in  the  undeviating  pravity  of  his  manners, 
than  successful  in  accumulating  wealth  ;  for  without  trade  or  profession,  without 
trust  of  public  money,  and  without  bribe-worthy  service,  he  acquired,  or  more 
properly  created,  a  ministerial  estate.  He  was  the  only  person  of  his  time  who 
could  cheat  without  the  mask  of  honesty,  retain  his  primeval  meanness  when  pos 
sessed  of  ten  thousand  a  year,  and  having  daily  deserved  the  gibbet  for  what  he 
DID,  was  at  last  condemned  to  it  for  what  he  could  not  do.  Oh,  indignant  reader ! 
think  not  his  life  useless  to  mankind  !  PROVIDENCE  connived  at  his  execrable 
designs,  to  give  to  after-ages  a  conspicuous  proof  and  example  of  how  small  esti 
mation  is  exorbitant  wealth  in  the  sight  of  GOD,  by  his  bestowing  it  on  the  MOST 

UNWORTHY  OF  ALL  MORTALS." ED. 


372  A  THREATENED  INSURRECTION. 

began  and  still  maintain  their  claim  to  exclusive  popularity  and 
confidence  by  two  such  admirable  and  solid  systems  of  policy 
and  ethics ;  and  shrewder  still  that  goodly  portion  of  the  people, 
which  shows  itself  capable  of  appreciating  and  rewarding  such 
transcendent  state  ability  !  But  I  must  not  encroach  on  the  pro 
vince  of  the  party  editor. 

As  every  circumstance  was  seized  by  the  discontented  to 
embarrass  the  administration,  or,  in  the  proverbial  phrase,  "  to 
stop  the  wheels  of  government,"  a  handle  was  made  of  the 
excise  law.  A  duty  being  laid  upon  whiskey,  that  general  and 
favourite  beverage  in  Pennsylvania,  it  was  found  a  potent  theme 
for  the  purpose  of  sedition ;  and  it  was,  accordingly,  preached 
upon  with  so  much  unction,  that  an  insurrection  was  the  conse 
quence.  It  began  beyond  the  mountains  in  the  summer  of  1794, 
spreading  from  west  to  east  with  wonderful  rapidity.  Harris- 
burg  was  quickly  infected ;  and  a  meeting  had  been  called  for 
the  purpose  of  passing  some  inflammatory  resolutions.  By  the 
persuasion,  however,  of  a  few  of  us,  who  were  untouched  by 
the  contagion,  these  inconsiderate  men  were  induced  to  desist ; 
though  less  perhaps  from  a  sense  of  their  error,  than  from  our 
assurance  that  a  body  of  troops  were  on  their  march  to  the  seat 
of  insurrection ;  and  that  if  they  persisted  in  their  undertaking, 
they  would  involve  themselves  in  the  guilt  of  a  forcible  opposi 
tion  to  the  laws,  and  most  surely  have  cause  to  repent  of  their 
temerity.  It  is  difficult  to  say  what  might  have  been  the  issue 
of  this  commotion,  had  not  the  President  taken  immediate 
measures  for  its  suppression,  and  called  out  a  force  so  respect 
able  as  at  once  to  overawe  the  seditious,  and  thereby  prevent 
the  effusion  of  blood.  The  insurgents,  who  had  once  assembled 
at  Parkinson's  ferry,  had  proposed  another  meeting  at  Brad- 
dock's  field ;  a  location,  without  doubt,  adopted  in  terrorem,  and 
by  way  of  hint  to  the  effeminate  federalists,  what  a  set  of 
bloody-minded  fellows  they  had  to  deal  with.  But  the  device, 
however  well  conceived,  was  wholly  lost  upon  General  Wash 
ington,  who  had  seen  all  sorts  of  folks  in  his  campaigning,  and 
knew  that  men  with  moccasins,  and  leggings,  and  hunting 
shirts,  and  tomahawks,  and  rifles,  were  just  about  as  brave  as 
men  with  powdered  heads  and  silk  stockings,  and  no  braver : 


SUPPRESSED  BY  THE  PRESIDENT.  373 

and  that  their  standing  on  Braddock's  field,  (tremendous  spot 
to  be  sure !)  would  not  make  them  a  jot  more  ready  to  leave 
their  carcasses  to  bleach  there  among  bones  that  had  been 
whitening  by  a  forty  years'  exposure.  At  any  rate,  these  formi 
dable  circumstances  did  not  prevent  his  putting  himself  in  a 
posture  to  bring  this  lawless  assemblage  to  reason ;  and  what 
was  equally  unlucky  for  them,  was,  there  being  at  his  disposal 
a  number  of  persons  who  had  also  seen  Service,  and  therefore 
as  little  liable  as  himself  to  be  dismayed  by  hideous  grimaces. 
To  cut  a  well-known  story  short,  there  was  no  fighting  after  all ; 
it  being  thought  best  by  the  insurgents,  on  serious  deliberation, 
to  send  ambassadors  to  sue  for  peace,  one  of  whom,  if  I  mistake 
not,  was  the  veteran  statesman  Mr.  Findlay,  a  man  so  minutely 
acquainted  with  the  whole  business,  as  to  have  been  enabled  to 
write  a  book  upon  it  nearly  as  thick  as  a  well-sized  cheese ; 
and  in  which,  I  am  told,  for  I  have  never  read  it,  he  belabours 
General  Hamilton  most  unmercifully.*  Washington,  as  already 
observed,  was  still  too  popular  for  a  direct  attack.  Whenever, 
therefore,  he  was  spoken  of,  it  was  with  the  warmest  profes 
sions  of  veneration  for  his  virtues  and  good  intentions — thus 
complimenting  his  heart  at  the  expense  of  his  head,  and  repre 
senting  him  as  a  good,  easy  simpleton,  who,  not  very  well 
aware  of  the  tendency  of  his  measures,  was  continually  led  into 
scrapes  by  the  cunning  rogues  who  surrounded  him,  the  archest 
of  whom,  at  this  time,  was  Hamilton.  How  exhilarating  to 

*  Ex-governor  of  Pennsylvania,  to  whom  allusion  has  already  been  made.  He 
was  the  father  of  the  late  JAMES  FINDLAY,  Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth  during 
a  portion  of  the  service  of  Governor  PORTER  ;  and  of  the  present  respectable  JUDGE 
FINDLAY,  who  is  indebted  for  his  position  as  President  Judge  of  the  District  Court 
for  the  city  and  county  of  Philadelphia,  to  Governor  SHUNK,  son-in-law  of  ex- 
governor  FINDLAY. 

The  "  Cheese"  referred  to, — a  mouldy  affair, — contains  a  history  of  the  Insur 
rection,  which,  as  it  was  written  by  an  ardent  though  able  politician,  may,  perhaps, 
be  consulted  with  some  advantage  by  the  curious  reader,  if  he  will,  at  the  same 
time,  peruse  BRACKENRIDGE'S  "  Incidents  of  the  Western  Insurrection,"  and  also 
General  HAMILTON'S  official  Report  in  the  American  State  Papers.  Its  censure  of 
HAMILTON  cannot  be  supposed  to  have  operated  very  injuriously  to  that  gentleman's 
reputation.  What  may  be  the  view  which  posterity  will  take  of  the  attempt, — or 
whether  it  will  take  any, — is  solely  the  business  of  posterity,  with  which  it  would 
be  presumptuous  to  intermeddle  here. — ED. 

32 


374  WESTERN  EXPEDITION. 

wounded  patriotism,  thus  by  a  stroke  of  the  pen  to  sink  into  a 
fool  and  a  knave,  these  two  great  champions  of  federalism ! 

The  Western  Expedition,  as  it  was  called,  gave  me  an  oppor 
tunity  of  seeing  a  number  of  my  old  friends  from  Philadelphia ; 
and  it  afforded  also  a  momentary  triumph  to  the  poor  handful 
of  Harrisburg  Federalists,  who  were  stated  by  their  opponents 
to  amount  to  only  five.  A  French  flag,  which  had  been  flying 
at  the  court-house  then  building,  had  been  the  cause  of  some 
squibbing  in  the  newspaper ;  and  this  flag  was  peremptorily 
ordered  to  be  taken  down  by  the  troops  from  the  city.  Had  I 
been  disposed  for  revenge,  I  might  upon  this  occasion  have 
been  fully  gratified,  as  I  was  repeatedly  asked  who  had  caused 
it  to  be  put  up,  and  impliedly  censured  for  giving  evasive  an 
swers  to  the  questions ;  which,  from  their  manner,  evinced  a 
disposition  to  treat  the  authors  of  it  much  more  roughly  than 
would  have  been  agreeable  to  me. 

Conspicuous  among  the  crowd  that  rolled  on  from  the  east 
ward,  was  Governor  Mifflin,  who  had  been  vibrating  with  much 
address  between  the  parties ;  and  had  really  the  merit  of  keep 
ing  them  in  tolerable  humour,  within  the  sphere  of  his  influence ; 
that  is,  within  the  limits  of  the  State. 

Such  in  the  midst  the  parting  isthmus  lies, 
While  swelling  seas  on  either  side  arise. 

He  had  a  large  suite,  which,  as  it  consisted  of  gentlemen  of 
both  parties,  he  was  tugged  a  good  deal  in  opposite  directions ; 
though,  on  this  occasion,  his  leaning  was  decidedly  Federal,  and 
being  so,  he  did  me  the  honour  to  accept  of  a  bed  at  my  house, 
instead  of  one  at  General  Hanna's,  which  he  had  in  his  offer.  I 
have  no  doubt,  however,  that  his  head  and  heart  were  generally 
right,  maugre  a  conduct  often  wrong ;  and  though  I  am  as  little 
addicted  as  any  one  to  compromise  between  my  conscience  and 
an  opposing  interest,  and  of  course  not  at  all  disposed  to  apo 
logize  for  his  temporizing,  I  cannot  but  admit,  that  Mifflin  was 
a  pleasing  man,  and  one  to  whom  I  was  indebted  for  many  acts 
of  kindness.  But  popularity  and  the  bustle  of  public  life  were 
hobby-horses  he  could  not  dispense  with.  He  must  mount  them, 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  PRESIDENT.  375 

therefore,  though  at  something  more  than  a  risk  of  being  spat 
tered  by  the  dirt  which  they  raised. 

On  the  day  after  his  arrival  he  convened  the  people  at  the 
market-house,  and  gave  them  an  animated  harangue,  in  which 
there  was  nothing  exceptionable  save  a  monstrous  suggestion, 
that  the  British  had  stirred  up  the  discontents  to  the  westward, 
and  been  the  cause  of  the  present  opposition  to  government.  I 
wonder  if  Mr.  Smilie,  Mr.  Gallatin,  and  the  rest  of  them,  were 
aware  that  they  were  but  the  puppets  of  this  abominable  nation ! 

In  a  few  days  after  the  Governor,  General  Washington,  ac 
companied  by  Colonel  Hamilton,  came  on.  After  waiting  on 
them,  I  prevailed  upon  the  burgesses  to  present  an  address  to 
the  President,  which  I  sketched  out,  and  which,  from  the  cor 
diality  of  the  answer,  appeared  to  have  been  well  received. 
But  as  they  have  both  been  published,  it  is  unnecessary  to  insert 
them  here.* 

As  to  myself,  I  could  not  partake  of  the  glory  of  this  expe 
dition.  An  ague,  which  had  hung  about  me  ever  since  the 
preceding  fall,  had  rendered  me  unfit  for  service.  Neverthe 
less,  I  procured  a  substitute,  in  preference  to  claiming  an 
exemption  on  account  of  my  debility. 

That  this  commotion,  in  its  infancy,  was  highly  pleasing  to 
the  opposition  leaders,  can  hardly  be  doubted ;  and  that  it  was 
cherished  also  by  the  French  minister  as  a  favourable  cir 
cumstance  towards  the  predominance  of  the  Gallic  interest,  is 
fairly  to  be  inferred  from  his  notice  of  our  "  early  decrepitude," 
and  his  intimation,  that  for  some  thousands  of  dollars  he  could 
have  plunged  us  into  a  civil  war.  But,  I  think,  he  was  mis 
taken  here,  as  the  intriguers  were  neither  fighting  men,  nor 
disposed  for  absolute  anarchy :  yet,  from  his  assertion,  of  what 
he  might  have  done  by  means  of  cash,  it  is  a  matter  of  obvious 
deduction,  unless  Mr.  Fouchet  was  a  liar,  that  he  had  an  under 
standing  on  the  subject  with  the  master-democrats,  who,  by 
way  of  apology,  as  I  take  it,  for  not  driving  on  the  insurrection 
with  more  spirit,  had  pleaded  their  want  of  pecuniary  means. 

*  They  will  be  found  in  APPENDIX  Q.  What  the  author  hesitated  to  do,  may 
not  inappropriately  be  done  by  another. — ED. 


376 


JAY  S  TREATY. 


Some  of  them,  indeed,  might  have  been  willing  to  touch  the 
dollars,  had  the  Frenchman  been  fool  enough  to  bring  them 
forth ;  but  even  in  that  case,  he  would  have  been  overreached 
and  got  nothing  for  his  money. 

One  more  stand  was  made  against  the  popularity  of  the 
President.  The  occasion  was  found  in  the  treaty  with  Britain, 
negotiated  by  Mr.  JAY.  This  was  to  have  been  expected ;  as 
a  heavy  clamour  was  raised  at  the  time  of  his  appointment  to 
the  mission,  upon  grounds  it  would  be  both  tedious  and  unne 
cessary  to  go  over.  The  treaty,  after  much  deliberation,  had 
been  ratified  in  the  constitutional  mode ;  but  as  it  depended  on 
the  House  of  Representatives  to  make  the  appropriations  neces 
sary  for  carrying  it  into  effect,  it  was  here  attempted  to  be 
defeated  by  withholding  them.  Mr.  Jay  was  as  much  vili 
fied,*  as  if  he  had  laid  the  entire  interests  of  his  country  at  the 

*  JOHN  JAY  was  a  native  of  New  York,  where  he  was  born  in  December,  1745. 
He  was  a  graduate  of  King's  (now  Columbia)  College;  and,  in  1768,  was  ad- 
mitted  to  the  Bar.  In  1774  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  first  American  Congress, 
which  met  at  Philadelphia.  In  1776  he  was  chosen  President  of  Congress.  In 
1777  a  member  of  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Constitution  of  New  York,  and 
in  the  following  year  he  was  appointed  Chief  Justice  of  that  State.  In  1779  he  was 
again  in  Congress,  and  presiding  over  the  deliberations  of  that  body.  In  the  same 
year  he  was  appointed  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  Spain,  for  the  purpose  of  obtain- 
ing  from  that  government  an  acknowledgment  of  our  independence,  to  form  a  treaty 
of  alliance,  and  to  procure  pecuniary  assistance.  In  1782  he  was  appointed  one  of 
the  Commissioners  to  negotiate  a  peace  with  England.  In  1 784  lie  returned  to 
the  United  States.  On  his  arrival  he  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Department 
for  Foreign  Affairs ;  and  on  the  adoption  of  the  present  Constitution,  he  was  ap 
pointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States.  He  was  the  author  of  several  of  the 
numbers  of  "  The  Federalist,"  In  1794  he  concluded  with  Great  Britain  the 
treaty  known  as  "Jay's."  Before  his  return,  in  the  year  1795,  he  had  been  elected 
Governor  of  New  York.  He  resigned  his  office  of  Chief  Justice,  upon  receiving 
information  of  this  event,  and  continued  in  the  office  of  Governor  until  1801,  when 
he  retired  to  private  life.  He  died,  May  17,  1829. 

His  personal  appearance  is  thus  described  by  SULLIVAN  : — 
"  His  height  was  a  little  less  than  six  feet ;  his  person  rather  thin,  but  well 
formed.  His  complexion  was  without  colour,  his  eyes  black  and  penetrating,  his 
nose  aquiline,  and  his  chin  pointed.  His  hair  came  over  his  forehead,  was  tied 
behind,  and  lightly  powdered.  His  dress  black.  The  expression  of  his  face  was 
exceedingly  amiable.  When  standing,  he  was  a  little  inclined  forward,  as  is  not 
uncommon  with  students  long  accustomed  to  bend  over  a  table.  His  manner 
was  very  gentle  and  unassuming.  His  deportment  was  tranquil ;  and  one  who 


ROCHEFOUCAULD.  377 

feet  of  a  foreign  power ;  for  such  things  were  then  justly  con 
sidered  as  crimes.  But  shall  the  treaty  go  into  effect?  This 
was  the  question  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  it  was 
debated  for  weeks  upon  every  point  but  the  one  really  in  issue, 
namely,  whether  any  treaty,  whatever  might  be  its  stipulations 
or  advantages,  was  admissible  with  Great  Britain;  and  whether 
the  anti-Federal  party,  should  it  relinquish  the  vital  nourishment 
it  derived  from  a  deadly,  implacable,  and  everlasting  enmity  to 
that  accursed  island,  would  be  able  to  sustain  itself,  or  have  a 
chance  of  ever  rising  again.  These  were  the  merits  of  the 
case,  though  cautiously  kept  out  of  view.  The  treaty,  how 
ever,  stood  its  ground  ;  and  the  sole  consolation  of  the  defeated 
faction,  was  to  wait,  with  what  patience  it  might,  for  the  death 
or  resignation  (to  borrow  its  own  phraseology)  of  the  "  first 
and  greatest  of  revolutionary  patriots."  Before  dismissing  the 
topic,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  the  ground  upon  which  the  treaty 
was  most  strenuously  assailed,  was,  that  it  imposed  some  slight 
restrictions  upon  our  trade.  Yes — this  was  a  ground  taken 
by  the  very  candid  and  impartial  men,  who  now  advocate  non- 
intercourse  laws  and  perpetual  embargoes,  rather  than  expose 
themselves  to  a  collision  with  the  other  belligerent  nation. 

In  the  spring  or  summer  of  1795,  a  letter  was  delivered  by 
a  gentleman  at  my  house,  which  gave  me  the  opportunity  of  a 
transient  acquaintance  with  the  Duke  de  la  ROCHEFOUCAULD 
LIANCOURT,  who,  being  on  a  tour  to  see  the  country,  was  re 
commended  to  my  attentions.  My  respect  for  the  writer  of 
the  letter  would  have  induced  me  to  avail  myself  of  the  honour 
it  offered  me;  but  being  indisposed  and  depressed  by  a  domestic 
affliction,  I  did  not  go  out,  and  thus  escaped  the  scrutinizing 

had  met  him,  not  knowing  who  he  was,  would  not  have  been  led  to  suppose 
that  he  was  in  the  presence  of  one  eminently  gifted  by  nature  with  intellectual 
power,  and  who  had  sustained  so  many  offices  of  high  trust  and  honour.  History 
will  assign  to  JOHN  JAY  an  elevated  rank  among  the  great;  not  only  so,  it  will 
place  him  equally  high  among  the  pure  and  virtuous.  Throughout  his  useful  and 
honourable  life,  he  was  governed  by  the  dictates  of  an  enlightened  Christian  con 
science.  He  thought  and  acted  under  the  conviction,  that,  there  is  an  accounta 
bility  far  more  serious  than  any  which  men  can  have  to  their  fellow-men.  The 
bravest  soldiers,  and  the  worthiest  statesmen,  have  ever  been  those  who  believed 
in  such  accountability." — ED. 

32* 


378  FRENCH  TRAVELLERS M.  TALON. 

eye  of  an  illustrious  traveller.*  It  is  certainly  a  perilous  thing, 
to  stand  before  a  man  about  to  make  a  book,  and  who  gauges 
and  proves  you  with  a  view  to  making  your  quantities  and 
qualities  a  component  part  of  the  subject  matter.  General 
HANNA,  it  appears,  had  been  in  this  predicament;  and,  all 
things  considered,  he  comes  off  very  well.  His  age,  I  must 
say,  was  pretty  accurately  guessed  at  by  the  Duke,  who  is  also 
correct  in  his  other  observations,  that  the  General  preferred 
chewing  to  smoking  tobacco.  Were  I  about  framing  an  hypo 
thesis  why  Mr.  Hanna  makes  a  somewhat  better  figure  in  the 
tour  than  the  gentlemen  of  Reading,  in  spite  of  their  acknow 
ledged  hospitality  and  "  obliging  answers  to  inquiries,"  I  should 
say,  that  he  talked  European  politics  with  rather  more  under 
standing  than  they  did,  little,  as  the  Duke  tells  us,  they  are  at 
best  understood  in  America.  Those  talked  in  Reading,  proba 
bly,  were  not  entirely  to  the  taste  of  a  good  Frenchman,  who, 
if  I  understand  the  character  that  phrase  \vould  designate, 
would  cry  vive  la  nation  et  sa  gloire,  not  only  in  exile,  but  with 
his  neck  under  the  guillotine.  Now,  though  the  Reading  gen 
tlemen  spoke  with  just  abhorrence  of  the  crimes  of  the  Revolu 
tion  and  with  due  respect  of  the  Marquis  de  la  FAYETTE,  they 
might  neither  have  testified  a  desire,  that  England  should  be 
brought  to  the  feet  of  France,  nor  that  the  destinies  of  the 
world  should  be  subjected  to  her  control ;  things,  which,  from 
his  party-leanings,  Mr.  Hanna,  might  have  countenanced.  All 
this,  however,  is  but  conjecture ;  and  as  to  the  accuracy  of 
the  noble  tourist's  facts,  so  far  as  I  am  acquainted  with  them,  I 
have  nothing  to  object,  except  as  to  the  havoc  of  names. 

From  this  gentleman,  I  turn  to  others  of  his  nation  whom  he 
speaks  of  in  his  travels ;  and  for  whose  acquaintance  I  was  in 
debted  to  Major  Adam  Hoops,  who,  I  should  have  mentioned 

*  This  nobleman  was  a  member  of  the  Constituent  Assembly  in  1789,  at  the 
dissolution  of  which  he  took  the  military  command  at  Rouen,  as  Lieutenant-Gene- 
ral.  He  resided  for  eighteen  months  in  England,  previously  to  his  tour  through 
the  United  States,  which  he  completed  in  1798.  After  the  restoration  he  was 
created  a  Peer.  His  life  was  published  by  his  son  in  1827.  The  principal  work 
of  ROCHEFOUCAULD  is  his  Voyage  dans  les  Etats-Unis,  published  at  Paris  in  eight 
vols.  octavo. — ED. 


ASYLUM CITIZEN  GENET.  379 

before,  did  me  the  honour  to  attach  himself  to  my  company,  in 
the  capacity  of  a  volunteer,  during  part  of  the  campaign  of 
1776.  A  letter  from  him  about  the  year  1790  or  '91,  so  far  as 
my  recollection  serves,  introduced  me  to  Mr.  Talon,  then  en 
gaged  with  the  Viscount  De  Noailles,  in  establishing  a  settle 
ment  on  the  north  branch  of  the  Susquehanna,  and  to  which 
they  gave  the  name  of  Asylum.*  In  the  course  of  this  business, 
he  several  times  passed  through  Harrisburgh,  and  never  failed, 
on  these  occasions,  giving  me  an  opportunity  of  seeing  him. 
Mr.  Talon  fully  justified  to  my  conception  the  favourable  idea 
that  is  given  by  Lord  Chesterfield  and  others,  of  a  Frenchman 
of  rank.  I  have  seldom  seen  a  gentleman  with  whose  manners 
I  was  more  pleased.  Though  he  spoke  but  little  English,  and 
I  less  French,  yet  from  the  knowledge  we  respectively  had  of 
each  other's  language,  we  contrived  to  make  ourselves  mutually 
understood.  On  one  of  his  visits  to  Harrisburgh,  he  was  at 
tended  by  not  less  than  ten  or  a  dozen  gentlemen,  all  adventurers 
in  the  new  establishment,  from  which  they  had  just  returned  on 
their  way  to  Philadelphia.  Of  these,  I  only  recollect  the  names 
of  M.  De  Blacons,  Captain  Keating,  and  Captain  Boileau.  My 
brotherf  and  myself,  who  had  waited  on  them  at  their  inn,  were 

*  The  Due  DE  LA  ROCHEFOUCAULD,  in  his  travels,  has  given  a  full  account  of  this 
place,  as  it  appeared  in  1795.  "  Messrs.  TALONS  and  DE  NOAILLES,  came  to  this 
country  from  France,  intending  to  purchase,  cultivate,  and  people,  200,000  acres 
of  land.  They  had  interested  in  their  project  some  planters  of  St.  Domingo. 
Messrs.  MORRIS  and  NICHOLSON  sold  them  the  lands,  and,  in  December,  1793,  the 
first  tree  was  cut  at  Asylum.  M.  DE  NOAILLES  was  to  manage  the  concerns  of 
the  colony  at  Philadelphia.  M.  TALON  attended  to  the  erection  of  log-houses,  and 
the  preparation  of  land  for  the  reception  of  the  colonists.  They  were  disappointed 
in  the  receipt  of  a  part  of  the  funds  upon  which  they  had  relied,  and  were  obliged 
to  relinquish  their  purchase  and  improvements.  They  then  became  joint  partners 
in  the  business  with  Morris  and  Nicholson.  The  quantity  of  land  was  enlarged 
to  a  million  of  acres,  and  TALON  was  to  act  as  agent,  with  a  salary  of  $3000  and 
the  use  of  a  large  house.  Ignorance  of  the  language,  want  of  practice  in  business 
of  this  nature,  other  avocations,  and  the  embarrassments  of  the  company,  deprived 
TALON  of  the  happiness  of  opening  a  comfortable  asylum  for  his  unfortunate 
countrymen,  of  aiding  them  in  their  settlement,  and  thus  becoming  the  honoured 
founder  of  a  colony.  He  and  M.  De  Noailles,  sold  out  to  Mr.  Nicholson." — 
Travels.— ED. 

t  The  late  highly  respectable  and  estimable  WILLIAM  GRAYDON,  Esq.,  of  liar- 
risburgh,  before  mentioned.  The  same  who  was  made  prisoner,  and  concerning 
whom  the  author,  long  in  suspense,  had  suffered  great  anxiety. — ED. 


380  CITIZEN  GENET. 

kept  to  supper,  and  I  have  rarely  passed  a  more  agreeable 
evening.  The  refreshment  of  a  good  meal,  coffee  and  wine,  had 
put  in  motion  the  national  vivacity ;  and  the  conversation,  car 
ried  on  in  English,  which  many  of  the  company  spoke  very 
well,  was  highly  animated.  Captain  Keating  was,  in  fact,  an 
Irishman,  and  Captain  Boileau  had  been  among  the  troops 
which  had  served  in  this  country.  As  to  Mons.  Blacons,  he 
was  but  a  novice  in  the  language ;  yet  hurried  away  by  a  high 
flow  of  spirits,  he  ventured  so  boldly  in  it,  expatiating  to  me  on 
a  projected  road  from  Asylum  to  Philadelphia,  which,  accord 
ing  to  him,  required  nothing  but  the  consent  of  the  Legislature, 
to  be  completed  out  of  hand,  that  Talon,  astonished  at  his  volu 
bility,  exclaimed  ce  n'est  pas  lui  c'est  le  vin  qua  parle,  "  that 
it  certainly  was  not  he,  but  the  wine  that  was  talking."  The 
French  Revolution  being  touched  upon,  it  came  into  my  head 
to  ask  Captain  Boileau,  how  it  happened,  that  he  and  the  other 
gentlemen  who  had  been  in  America,  and  must  of  course  have 
been  among  the  foremost  in  inculcating  the  doctrine  of  liberty 
in  France,  were  now  so  entirely  in  the  background  ?  His  an 
swer  was  interrupted  by  a  loud  and  general  laugh  ;  and  Talon, 
who  had  probably  been  adverse  to  the  revolution  in  all  its  stages 
and  modifications,  (as  he  was  the  person  on  account  of  whose 
courteous  reception  General  Washington  had  been  roundly 
taken  to  task  by  the  citizen  Genet,)*  enjoyed  the  thing  so  much, 
that  he  thought  it  worthy  of  remembering,  and  put  me  in  mind 
of  it,  in  an  interview  with  him  a  long  time  afterwards.  This 
gentleman  had  apparently  stood  high  in  the  confidence  of  the 
King,  as,  on  once  dining  with  him,  at  his  lodgings,  he,  at  the 
instance  of  a  French  lady,  from  St.  Domingo,  who  was  present 
and  had  observed  that  I  was  uninfected  with  the  regicide  mania, 

*  First  Minister  of  the  French  Republic  to  the  United  States.  He  was  the 
occasion  of  infinite  trouble  and  embarrassment  to  President  WASHINGTON.  His 
conduct  became  at  length  so  offensive,  that  the  American  Minister,  GOUVERNEUR 
MORRIS,  was  instructed  to  demand  his  recall  of  the  French  Government.  GENET 
received  letters  of  recall,  although  his  mission  would  have  terminated  at  the  time 
if  he  had  not  been,  as  the  party  in  France  to  which  he  had  been  indebted  for  his 
mission,  was  overthrown.  M.  GENET  remained  in  the  United  States,  and  retired 
into  the  interior  of  the  State  of  New  York  and  devoted  himself  to  agricultural 
pursuits.  He  married  a  sister  of  the  late  DE  WITT  CLINTON. — ED. 


ASYLUM M.  TALON.  381 

showed  me  his  picture  on  the  lid  of  a  box  studded  with  diamonds, 
that  had  been  presented  to  him  by  his  Majesty,  as  the  inscrip 
tion  imported. 

The  Duke  de  la  Rochefoucauld  gives  some  particulars  of  the 
Asylum  settlement,  humorously  called  by  some  of  the  settlers, 
refugium  peccatorum,  and  enumerates  the  families  which  had 
established  themselves  there,  many  of  whom  from  their  names  I 
remember  to  have  seen ;  but  I  have  understood,  that  the  settle 
ment  is  now  entirely  abandoned  by  the  French,  and  I  have  been 
told  by  persons  who  have  seen  the  tract,  that  one  more  rugged 
and  mountainous,  except  the  particular  spot  whereon  the  town 
stands,  could  hardly  be  found.  In  this,  it  agrees  with  Mr. 
Talon's  account  of  it,  who,  upon  my  asking  him  as  to  its  situa 
tion,  said,  the  mountains  were  trop  rapproches,  thereby  convey 
ing  the  idea  of  a  narrow  strip  of  flat  land  along  the  river.  The 
affairs  of  France  were  a  subject  not  often  touched  upon  by  Mr. 
Talon ;  but  it  was  impossible  not  sometimes  to  advert  to  them, 
and  he  testified  much  concern  for  the  death  of  the  murdered 
Malesherbes,  who,  if  I  mistake  not,  was  one  of  the  counsel  for 
the  king.  He  spoke  of  him  as  a  noble,  generous  man — un  gal 
lant  homme,  was,  I  recollect,  one  of  his  expressions.  Talon  was 
understood  to  have  been  in  the  law-line  himself,  and  to  have  been 
Avocat-general  under  the  old  regime.  If  this  was  the  fact,  the 
office  was,  apparently,  through  royal  favour,  hereditary  in  his 
family,  as  one  of  the  same  name  in  that  office,  is  spoken  of  by 
Cardinal  de  Retz,  in  the  following  very  honourable  manner,  and 
the  more  so  from  his  being  in  the  opposite  party,  and  a  foe  to 
his  seditious  designs.  "  Talon,  Advocate-general,  made  one  of 
the  finest  speeches  that  was  ever  made  on  a  like  subject.  I 
never  heard  or  read  any  thing  more  eloquent.  He  mixed  with 
his  reasons  whatever  could  serve  to  make  them  the  more 
moving.  He  invoked  the  manes  of  Henry  the  Great,  and  kneel 
ing  down,  he  called  upon  St.  Louis  to  protect  the  kingdom  of 
France.  You  fancy,  perhaps,  that  you  had  laughed  at  this 
spectacle ;  but  it  had  moved  you,  as  it  did  the  whole  company, 
upon  whom  it  worked  in  such  a  manner,  that  the  clamours  of 
the  inquests  began,  as  I  perceived,  to  decrease  by  it."  Though 
this  quotation  may  be  thought  a  strange  wandering  from  my 


382  WASHINGTON  RETIRES  FROM  THE  PRESIDENCY. 

purpose,  inasmuch  as  it  mingles  the  transactions  of  ages  past 
with  those  of  the  present,  I  could  not  suppress  it,  since  it  places 
in  so  amiable  a  light  the  virtue  of  patriotism,  and  the  irresistible 
eloquence  which  may  flow  from  that  source.  We  too  have  our 
sainted  friend  in  Heaven,  who,  by  a  stretch  of  fiction,  more 
warrantable,  may  be  supposed  to  be  watching  over  the  destinies 
of  this  country ;  but  much  I  question,  whether  an  equally  solemn 
invocation  to  his  manes  would  find  matter  so  soft  as  was  found 
in  the  breast  of  this  Catiline,  and  in  the  hearts  of  those  who 
were  set  in  motion  by  his  machinations. 

To  return  to  our  own  affairs.  Although  no  other  specific 
ground  of  opposition  than  those  already  mentioned,  was  taken 
against  the  President,  yet  the  whole  tenor  of  his  administration 
was  bitterly  and  incessantly  inveighed  against  as  hostile  to 
liberty.  The  logic  of  democracy  was  extremely  compendious, 
and  therefore  the  more  satisfactory  to  superficial  inquirers.  On 
the  one  hand,  it  pointed  to  republican  France ;  on  the  other,  to 
a  combination  of  despots — and  this  was  enough.  In  so  interest 
ing  a  struggle,  could  any  friend  to  his  kind  be  neutral !  And 
the  inference  was,  that  they  who  wrere  not  for  France,  were 
against  her,  and  monarchists,  tories,  and  tyrants  of  course.  The 
name  of  England  too,  was  well  calculated  to  rouse  old  resent 
ments  ;  and  the  single  circumstance  of  her  being  opposed  to 
France,  was  quite  sufficient  to  make  all  staunch,  Boeotian  whigs, 
allies  of  the  latter.  Was  she  not,  it  was  asked,  engaged  in  a 
cause  exactly  similar  to  our  own — and  shall  we  side  with  royal 
ists  against  her.  Shall  we  not  rather,  in  the  glowing  language 
of  Genet,  march  to  combat  under  her  banners,  and  repay  her 
for  the  generous  assistance  she  gave  us  in  our  contest?  Such 
arguments  struck  the  public  sensory  with  force ;  and  the  impres 
sion  they  made,  was  not  to  be  effaced  by  any  reasoning  more 
complex  and  refined.  Besides,  who  listens  to  reasoning  that 
runs  counter  to  his  passions,  his  prejudices,  and  his  interests? 
One  perhaps  in  a  thousand.  It  now  became  evident  that  to  be 
popular,  or  even  tolerated,  it  was  necessary  to  be  a  partisan  of 
the  French ;  as  to  doubt,  merely,  the  holiness  of  their  cause,  was 
the  certain  road  to  odium  and  proscription.  It  is  not  at  all  to  be 
wondered  at,  therefore,  that  the  prudent,  the  timid,  and  the 


CHARACTER  OF  WASHINGTON.  383 

thrifty,  all  lent  themselves  to  democracy,  and  helped  to  swell  a 
tide,  which  seemed  ready  to  rise  above  all  mounds,  and  to  bear 
down  every  thing  before  it,  even  to  the  weight  and  popularity 
of  Washington.  That  good  man  now  began  to  doubt  whether 
the  prize  of  independence,  which  had  cost  him  so  many  anxious 
days  and  sleepless  nights,  were  really  worth  the  sacrifices  which 
had  been  made  for  it  ;*  and  whether  posterity  might  not  have 
cause  to  question  the  value  of  his  services,  or  even,  under  the 
smart  of  anarchy,  to  exclaim — "  Curse  on  his  virtues,  they  have 
undone  his  country !"  Weary  of  the  struggle  "  with  vice  and 
faction,"  he  at  length  resolved,  at  the  expiration  of  his  second 
term  of  service,  to  retire  from  the  presidency,  and  leave  it  to  be 
scuffled  for  between  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Jefferson. 

Never  had  the  soul  of  Washington  exhibited  more  illustrious 
proofs  of  true  nobility  than  in  that  very  part  of  his  life  which 
excited  the  most  viperous  malignity,  arid  brought  upon  him  the 
execrable  charge  of  having  legalized  corruption.  Though 
always  great — though  in  his  early  manhood  distinguished  as  the 
protector  of  his  country  from  savage  inroad  and  depredation — 
though  the  only  man  perhaps  in  America,  who  by  a  transcen- 
dently  virtuous,  prudent,  dignified,  and  persevering  deportment, 
could  have  kept  us  united,  and  carried  us  triumphantly  through 
the  Revolution — he  never  appeared  to  more  advantage  than 
during  the  arduous  season  of  his  eight  years'  presidency.  Like 
the  magnanimity  displayed  by  Cato  in  his  march  through 
Syrtes  and  Libyan  deserts,  it  might  justly  be  preferred  to  the 
most  brilliant  military  achievements. 

Hunc  ego  per  Syrteis  Libyesque  extrema  triumphum 
Ducere  maluirim,  quam  ter  Capitolia  curru 
Scandere  Pompeii,  quam  frangere  colla  Jugurthae. 

Contrasting  the  glorious  height  to  which  he  carried  the 
American  name,  with  its  present  lamentable  degradation ;  the 
prosperity  to  which  he  raised  his  country  with  its  present 
wretched  state  of  despondency  and  subserviency  to  a  foreign 
and  despotic  power ;  are  we  not  fully  justified  in  applying  to 

*  A  very  similar  reflection  is  made  by  Judge  Brackenridge  in  his  Incidents  of 
the  Western  Insurrection. 


384  CHARACTER  OF  WASHINGTON. 

him  the  "  fine  rapture"  of  Lucan,  in  regard  to  the  patriot  of 
Rome? 

Ecce  parens  verus  patrioe,  dignissimus  aris 
Roma  tuis ! 

His  country's  father  here,  O  Rome,  behold, 

Worthy  thy  temples,  priests,  and  shrines  of  gold  ! 

If  e'er  thou  break  thy  lordly  master's  chain, 

If  liberty  be  e'er  restor'd  again, 

Him  shalt  thou  place  in  thy  divine  abodes, 

Swear  by  his  holy  name,  and  rank  him  with  thy  gods.* 

*  Next  to  a  man's  acts,  it  would  seem  that  the  best  test  of  his  feelings  and  dis 
positions  was  his  private  confidential  sentiments  to  his  friends ;  and  in  a  letter  from 
this  virtuous  citizen  to  Gen.  REED,  of  November  27th,  1778,  is  the  following  pas- 
sage : — "  It  is  also  most  devoutly  to  be  wished  that  faction  was  at  an  end,  and  that 
those  to  whom  every  thing  valuable  was  entrusted,  would  lay  aside  party  views  and 
return  to  first  principles.  Happy,  happy,  thrice  happy  country,  if  such  were  the 
government  of  it !  But,  alas  !  we  are  not  to  expect  that  the  path  will  be  strewed 
with  flowers.  The  great  and  good  Being,  who  rules  the  universe,  has  disposed 
matters  otherwise,  and  for  wise  purposes,  I  am  persuaded."  Such  were  the  ema 
nations  of  his  patriotism  and  piety  ! 


ELECTION  OF  MR.  ADAMS.  385 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Election  of  John  Adams  to  the  Presidency. — His  Administration. — Mission  to 
France. — French  Party  in  America. — Imposition  of  Taxes. — Singular  Fabrica 
tion. — Another  popular  Insurrection. — Election  of  Jefferson  to  the  Presidency. 
Popular  Fanaticism. — Author's  Political  Principles. — Death  of  WASHINGTON. 
Character  of  Jefferson. — Concluding  Reflections. — Conclusion. 

IN  the  contest  for  the  Presidency,  Mr.  Adams  prevailed  by  a 
very  small  majority.  Hence,  federalism  was  still  ascendent  in  the 
national  councils,  though  considerably  depressed  in  those  of  some 
of  the  States,  which  were  working  by  sap,  while  their  myrmidons 
abroad,  displayed  as  much  ardour  to  storm  the  strong  hold  of 
aristocracy,  as  the  Parisians  had  done  to  demolish  the  Bastile. 
The  tone  given  by  WASHINGTON  was  maintained  by  his  successor. 
Equally  federal,  he  spoke  a  language  more  lofty;  and  in  his 
answers  to  the  numerous  addresses,  which  were  presented  to  him 
on  occasion  of  the  insolence  of  the  French  Directory,  he  was 
thought  egregiously  heterodox;  particularly  in  one,  in  which,  he 
somewhat  unnecessarily,  indeed,  takes  occasion  to  speak  of  his 
having  once  had  the  honour  to  stand  in  the  presence  of  the  Ma 
jesty  of  Britain.  Shocking  sounds,  to  be  sure,  to  the  republican 
ears  of  the  day!  Though,  now  we  can  talk  of  the  Imperial  Ma 
jesty  of  France,  without  the  smallest  danger  of  setting  our  teeth 
on  edge,  or  of  being  proscribed  for  incivism.  Nay,  we  even 
permit  a  democratic  editor  to  live,  who  not  long  since  proposed 
to  turn  our  republican  President  into  a  Monarch,  and  to  invest 
his  temples  with  a  diadem. 

But  I  must  hasten  through  the  stormy  scene  of  Mr.  Adams's 
Administration.  The  Republicans,  as  they  now  styled  themselves, 
(for  nothing  is  more  conducive  to  a  successful  cajolery  of  the 
people,  then  a  well  chosen  appellation,)  having  got  rid  of  WASH 
INGTON,  continued  their  efforts  for  the  ascendency  with  increased 
33 


386  FRENCH  PARTY  IN  AMERICA. 

hopes  and  animation.  They  were  no  longer  the  enemies,  but  the 
friends  and  watchful  guardians  of  that  constitution  they  had  so 
lately  deprecated  as  the  greatest  evil  that  could  befal  them  ;  or, 
to  use  the  words  of  citizen  Fouchet,  they  had  "  disembarrassed 
themselves  of  the  insignificant  denomination  of  anti-federalists, 
and  taken  that  of  patriots  and  republicans."  This  was,  doubt 
less,  an  able  manoeuvre.  They  got  possession,  by  it,  of  a  popular 
name,  and  their  next  care  was  to  show  how  well  they  deserved 
it.  An  occasion  soon  occurred  for  a  display  of  their  new  patriot 
ism  and  republicanism.  This  was  the  arrogant  and  swindling 
conduct  of  the  Directory,  already  mentioned.  Their  demand  of 
tribute,  and  threat,  in  case  of  non-compliance,  to  barter  us  away 
as  they  had  done  Venice,  being  properly  felt  and  resented  by  the 
sound  part  of  the  community,  addresses  to  the  President  \vere 
poured  in  from  every  part  of  the  Union,  expressive  of  a  sense  of 
the  outrage  received,  and  a  determination  to  support  the  govern 
ment  in  any  measures  of  defence  which  the  crisis  might  demand. 
The  Directory  did,  unquestionably,  make  a  sad  blunder  here, 
and  might  have  ruined  their  cause,  if  any  thing  could  have  ruined 
it.  Instead  of  playing  to  the  hands  of  their  partners  on  this  side 
the  water,  they  forced  them  most  unmercifully  by  leading  a  suit 
they  could  not  follow,  but  were  absolutely  obliged  to  ruff.  Never 
theless,  the  awkward  thrust  was  parried  with  admirable  dexterity ; 
and  joining  a  cry  they  could  riot  silence,  they  came  forward  with 
their  addresses,  too,  breathing  a  most  ardent  zeal  for  the  honour  of 
their  country,  and  a  vehement  indignation  at  the  affront  which 
had  been  offered  it.  To  take  off  a  little,  however,  from  the 
odium  incurred  by  the  Directory,  under  whose  auspices  they 
fought  and  machinated,  they  fell  upon  the  extraordinary  expedient 
of  sending  an  extraordinary  envoy,  on  their  own  account,  to 
France,  and  the  extraordinary  personage  selected  for  this  service, 
was  Doctor  Logan.  He  was  held  out,  at  least,  as  the  party's 
messenger.  It  appears  to  be  in  the  essence  of  Jacobinism,  as  ob 
served  by  Mr.  Burke,  to  excite  contempt  and  laughter  no  less 
than  horror  and  tears ;  in  the  words  of  a  French  writer,  on  ne 
pent  s'empecher  d'en  pleurer,  et  d'en  rire.  In  France,  its  vis 
comica  was  illustrated  in  dubbing  the  ruthless  Duke  of  Orleans, 
Monsieur  Egalite ;  and  in  America,  it  exemplified  itself,  in  dub- 


FRENCH  PARTY  IN  AMERICA LOGAN's  MISSION.  387 

bing  Doctor  Logan  an  Ambassador  of  the  people :  and  it  was 
even  attempted  in  abject  apery  of  the  fantastic  tricks  of  the  great 
Alma  mater  at  Paris,  to  bring  the  Doctor's  wife  upon  the  stage 
in  the  manner  of  Roland's  and  Tallien's.  It  is  perfectly  in  my 
recollection,  that  some  of  the  democratic  prints  of  the  day,  spoke 
of  Logan  and  Deborah,  in  the  style  of  Louvet  and  his  Ladouiskie. 
The  object  of  the  Doctor's  mission,  or  going,  £if  not  sent,)  was 
twofold  ;*  first,  to  assure  the  Directory  that  they  had  yet  a  strong 
party  in  America,  which,  if  properly  cherished  and  co-operated 
with,  would  soon  be  predominant,  and  enabled  to  repay  their  as 
sistance  with  interest;  and  second,  to  show  the  people  of  this 

*  In  SULLIVAN'S  Letters  there  is  a  reference  to  this  gentleman  and  his  mission. 
He  says  "early  in  1798,  a  certain  DR.  LOGAN  departed  from  Philadelphia  for 
Paris,  charged  with  a  private  mission  on  public  affairs  to  the  Directory.  By 
whom  sent  was  no  secret,  the  House  addressed  the  President,  two  to  one,  on  this 
serious  subject;  and  a  like  address  passed  the  Senate,  with  only  five  dissentients. 
In  this  address  it  is  said,  "  We  deplore  that  there  are  those  who  call  themselves 
by  the  American  name,  who  have  daringly  insulted  our  country,  by  an  usurpation 
of  powers  not  delegated  to  them,  and  by  an  obscure  interference  in  our  concerns." 
MR.  JEFFERSON  was  said  at  the  time,  to  have  sent  LOGAN  to  Paris.  In  one  of  his 
letters,  he  answers  some  inquiry  on  this  subject ;  and  says,  that  the  accusation  is 
groundless;  that  LOGAJV  was  self-appointed,  and  that  he  (MR.  JEFFEKSON)  did  no 
more  than  give  him  some  sort  of  passport."  Whether  this  gentleman  was  self- 
appointed,  or  whether  he  was  sent  by  MR.  JEFFERSON  and  his  party,  to  which  MR. 
LOGAN  was  attached,  is  a  matter  of  very  little  consequence  now,  whatever  may 
have  been  the  degree  of  irritation  produced  by  his  movements  at  the  period  of  his 
alleged  "obscure  interference."  He  has  been  represented  by  his  friends,  as  a  re 
spectable,  benevolent,  man,  whose  object  in  this  affair,  as  in  every  other  of  a  public 
nature,  in  which  he  engaged,  was  service  to  his  country  and  his  fellow-men.  If 
he  mistook  his  vocation  and  over  estimated  his  abilities,  and  the  sincerity  and 
virtue  of  his  associates,  or  employers,  by  whom  he  was  flattered  and  caressed  for 
purposes  of  their  own,  that  was  his  misfortune,  and  without  question,  he  lived 
long  enough  to  discover  it  to  be  so !  But,  in  regard  to  his  truly  estimable  wife 
who,  like  himself,  is  now  beyond  the  reach  of  censure  or  of  praise,  and  who  is 
here,  somewhat  rudely  and  abruptly  exposed  to  public  gaze,  the  Editor  may  be 
permitted  to  remark, — (while  expressing  surprise  and  regret  that  the  Author  should 
have  permitted  himself,  even  while  under  the  influence  of  strong  party  resentment, 
to  be  betrayed  into  an  otherwise  unaccountable  impropriety,  inconsistent  with  his 
own  elevation  of  character  as  a  generous  and  accomplished  gentleman,)  — that 
none  who  knew  her  could,  with  truth,  utter  a  word  in  disparagement  of  her  fair 
claim  to  unlimited  respect  and  regard,  or  could  lay  to  her  charge,  aught  that 
could  derogate  from  the  dignity  and  purity  with  which,  meekly  and  beautifully, 
she  invariably  sustained,  the  proudest  character  to  which  woman  may  aspire — 
that  of  an  enlightened,  patriotic,  unobtrusive,  AMERICAN  MATRON. — ED. 


388  FRENCH  PARTY  IN  AMERICA. 

country,  that  the  Directory  had  no  quarrel  with  them,  but  merely 
with  their  rulers ;  and  thence,  holding  out  an  inducement  to  change 
them.  What  a  blessed  'picture  of  republicanism  was  here!  and 
to  give  its  figures  full  relief,  the  proper  light  to  set  them  off,  it 
should  be  observed,  that  the  persons  exhibiting  it,  had  engrossed 
the  commodity  and  possessed  it  exclusively.  By  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  constitution,  and  indeed  of  all  the  elective  sys 
tems,  to  certain  persons  is  delegated  the  power  to  govern:  if 
they  misuse  the  trust,  they  are  removable  by  the  votes  of  the 
people,  and  others  put  in  their  places ;  but  failing  to  accomplish 
this,  the  wheels  of  government  were  to  be  stopped,  and  its  func 
tions  usurped  by  any  that  might  choose  to  do  it :  Can  a  clearer 
definition  be  given  of  anarchy?  What  lover  of  state  juggling 
but  must  be  charmed  with  the  series  of  able  tricking,  by  which 
the  virtuous  JefFersonians  crawled  into  power  ?  As  Doctor  Logan 
has  lately  been  to  England,  with  the  same  pacific  views,  (he  tells 
us,)  with  which  he  went  to  France,  I  shall  not  contest  his  motives 
in  either  case.  Still,  the  use  that  was  made  of  his  voyage  to 
France,  by  the  party  devoted  to  her,  is  a  circumstance  too  im 
portant  to  be  omitted  in  a  recognition  of  the  devices  of  the 
faction. 

It  was  to  have  been  expected,  that  the  unexampled  profligacy 
and  insolence  of  the  ruling  power  in  France,  would  have  consi 
derably  depressed  their  Democratic  adherents  in  America,  and 
strengthened  the  Federalists  in  the  same  proportion ;  but  the  con 
sequences  were  directly  the  reverse.  Alarmed  much  more  than 
necessary  at  the  menace  of  the  Directory,  and  relying  more  upon 
the  addresses  from  the  people,  than  a  considerate  attention  to 
their  sentiments  would  warrant ;  (as,  although  they  all  expressed 
a  warm  regard  for  the  honour  of  the  country,  they,  for  the  most 
part,  drivelled  about  the  unkindness  of  the  dear  Sister- Republic,) 
the  administration  and  its  friends  in  Congress,  seemed  to  think, 
that  they  were  assured  of  the  public  support,  in  any  measures 
against  France,  however  energetic  they  might  be.  In  this  per 
suasion,  such  as  deemed  a  state  of  hostility  preferable  to  a  state 
of  fraternity  with  her,  probably  thought  the  occasion  too  favour 
able  to  be  suffered  to  pass  away ;  and  in  this  view,  an  attitude 
unequivocally  hostile,  was  taken  by  the  government.  A  pro- 


IMPOSITION  OF  TAXES.  389 

visional  army  was  voted,  volunteer  corps  invited,  ships  of  war 
equipped,  and  as  a  part  of  the  system  of  defence,  against  a  foe, 
which  was  well  known  to  have  numerous  partisans  among  us,  the 
alien  and  sedition  lawrs  wrere  enacted.  But  the  most  volcanic 
ground  of  all  was  yet  to  be  trodden.  Money  was  to  be  raised, 
and  not  a  little  would  suffice.  The  ordinary  revenues  were  in 
sufficient  ;  and  the  adherents  of  the  foreign  power,  already  exulted 
in  the  anticipated  ruin  of  their  adversaries,  who  vainly  flattered 
themselves  with  a  public  confidence,  which  could  not  be  shaken. 
With  less  ability,  the  intriguers  had  vastly  more  cunning  than  the 
federalists ;  and  from  their  better  acquaintance  with  the  human 
heart  in  its  selfishness  and  littlenesses,  they  well  knew,  that  a 
direct  and  sensible  application  to  the  pocket,  would  be  more 
likely  to  blow  up  the  prevailing  party  than  any  thing  else.  It 
has  been  well  said,  that  a  disorderly  people  will  suffer  a  robbery- 
with  more  patience  than  an  impost.  Under  this  conviction,  the 
patriots  had  long  sickened  at  perceiving  that  the  community  wras 
satisfied ;  and  that  the  current  expenses  of  government  were  so 
easily  raised.  This  was  truly  provoking.  They  wished  the 
people  to  feel,  they  said.  It  was  not  right  that  they  should  pay 
without  knowing  it ;  and  hence,  a  furious  and  persevering  clamour 
against  indirect  taxation.  It  was  reprobated  as  hateful  and  anti-. 
republican  in  the  extreme ;  it  was  not  to  be  endured ;  and,  inas 
much  as  it  aimed  at  deceiving  the  people  (wicked  thing!)  by 
cheating  them  into  contributions,  which  their  love  of  country 
would  always  most  cheerfully  afford  when  necessary,  it  was  re 
presented  to  be  unworthy  of  freemen  ;  and  to  imply  a  suspicion 
both  of  the  virtue  and  understanding  of  the  community,  which, 
about  the  same  time  was  voted  by  the  democratic  part  of  con 
gress,  to  be  the  most  enlightened  on  the  globe,  France  herself 
scarcely  excepted.  All  this  was  vastly  fine  and  highly  pleasing, 
no  doubt,  to  the  galleries ;  a  charming  material  too,  for  the  repub 
lican  editors  to  cook  up  a  most  savoury  dish  for  their  customers. 
The  simple,  well  meaning  federalists  wrere,  in  their  turn  pleased 
also,  at  finding  that  their  opponents  were  smoothing  the  way  to  a 
measure,  that,  in  the  present  conjuncture,  would  be  exceedingly 
eligible  for  them ;  and  therefore,  with  no  small  degree  of  self-com 
placency  for  their  supposed  address,  took  the  tricksters  at  their 

33* 


390  IMPOSITION  OF  TAXES. 

word,  and  passed  a  law  for  a  direct  tax.  Its  operation  was  on 
houses  and  lands ;  but  still  keeping  in  view,  the  policy  of  favour 
ing  the  industrious  and  frugal  at  the  expense  of  the  luxurious,  the 
farmer  paid  very  little  for  his  property  in  proportion  to  the  idle 
gentleman  or  inhabitant  of  a  city,  who  gratified  himself  in  the 
enjoyment  of  a  sumptuous  house.  In  the  same  spirit,  a  tax  had 
been  laid  upon  carriages  kept  for  comfort  and  pleasure  ;  an  article 
which,  beyond  all  others,  made  manifest  the  discrimination  in  be 
half  of  the  mouth  of  labour.  Nevertheless,  it  was  the  mouth  that 
from  the  hollow,  pretended  solicitude  of  its  parasites  that  it  might 
not  be  "  deprived  of  the  bread  that  it  earned,"  was  brought  to 
clamour  the  loudest  against  taxes  which  did  not  effect  it,  and  had, 
in  fact,  a  tendency  to  relieve  it ;  another  proof  of  the  inconside- 
rateness  of  the  multitude,  and  of  the  superior  potency  of  words 
to  things,  and  consequently,  of  the  very  little  chance  indeed  of 
honesty  and  fair  dealing  in  a  contest  with  knavery  and  hypocrisy, 
before  "the  bar  of  public  reason." 

This  tax  on  real  property,  wras  the  fatal  blow  to  federalism  in 
Pennsylvania.  The  Stamp  Act  was,  indeed,  bad  enough,  because 
it  was  a  Stamp  Act  that  first  excited  our  displeasure  with  the 
mother  country :  The  very  name  of  an  excise  was  hateful  to  free 
men  :*  The  alien  law,  set  at  naught  one  of  the  inherent  rights  of 
man,  that  is,  the  right  of  impatriation  and  expatriation,  of  coming 
and  going  and  saying  and  doing  whatever  the  love  of  liberty 
prompted  ;  and  the  sedition  law  was  still  more  execrable,  since, 
in  permitting  the  truth  to  be  given  in  evidence  in  exculpation  of 
a  libeller,  it  gagged  the  mouths  alone  of  patriotic  liars  and  calum 
niators,  the  only  species  of  partisans  whose  labours  could  be 
efficient  in  a  cause,  emphatically  that  of  falsehood.  But,  though 
all  these  sad  doings  had  been  carefully  impressed  upon  the  sensory 
of  the  great  Germanic  body  of  Pennsylvania,  they  had  not  fully 
wrought  the  desired  effect.  Their  pockets  had  hitherto  been 
spared,  and  wheat  had  borne  a  good  price.  But  now  their  vul 
nerable  part  was  touched,  and  they  began  to  look  about  them. 

*  It  is  remarkable,  that  the  Federalists  seemed  really  to  believe,  what  it  was 
evident  from  the  conduct  of  their  opponents,  they  did  not  believe,  viz.  That  the 
people  were  enlightened.  They  were  persuaded,  however,  of  the  efficacy  of  flat- 
tcry,  and  laid  it  on  thickly. 


IMPOSITION  OF  TAXES.  391 

Nor  were  there  wanting  "friends  of  the  people"  to  sympathize  in 
their  oppression,  and  to  put  them  in  mind,  that  it  was  to  avoid 
the  payment  of  taxes  we  went  to  war  with  Great  Britain ;  that  the 
federalists,  therefore,  \vere  as  tyrannical  as  she  had  been,  and  that 
this  tax  upon  farms,  houses  and  windows,  was  but  the  beginning 
of  a  system,  which  would  soon  extend  to  every  thing;  and  that 
we  should  have  at  length  a  tax  upon  horses,  wagons  and  ploughs; 
or  as  it  was  expressed  in  a  handbill,  circulated  in  favour  of  the 
election  of  Thomas  M'Kean,  "  a  horse  tax,  a  cart  tax,  a  plough 
tax,  &c.  &c."  The  love  of  pelf  was  completely  roused;  and 
many  an  honest  farmer  came  to  the  poll  with  a  countenance  of  as 
much  anxious  determination,  as  if  upon  his  vote  the  question  wras 
suspended,  whether  he  was  to  remain  the  independent  man  he 
was,  or  to  sink  into  a  pennyless  vassal.  Nor  is  it  to  be  wondered 
at,  that  he  was  thus  "perplexed  in  the  extreme,"  when  it  is  con 
sidered,  that  although  we  never  bribe,  all  offices  were  afloat,  and 
depended  for  their  re-settlement  on  the  issue  of  the  election  and 
the  will  of  the  successful  candidate. 

The  success  of  a  good  trick,  is  only  a  theme  for  mirth  among 
those  who  have  talents  for  the  business  of  electioneering.  Lowr 
cunning,  indeed,  such  as  is  moulded  into  the  buffoon  characters, 
we  see  in  novels  and  upon  the  stage,  your  Sancho  Panzas,  Tony 
Lumpkins,  &c.  passes  current  for  extreme  cleverness,  among  the 
bulk  of  our  rural  statesmen.  These  are  of  the  class  of  Mr.  Jefferson's 
chosen  people,  however ;  and  though,  when  in  their  place,  their 
petty  rogueries  are  very  harmless  and  diverting ;  yet,  when  agog 
for  office,  with  the  extensive  means  of  mischief  they  possess,  in 
their  sovereign  capacity,  they  may,  nevertheless,  be  fully  com 
petent  to  the  ruin  of  a  nation.*  The  name  of  WASHINGTON,  as 

*  This  idea,  a  little  dilated  upon,  will  enable  me  to  defend  myself  against  a 
charge  made  against  me,  of  portraying  my  countrymen  in  very  dark  colours.  I 
do,  however,  believe  that  they  are  naturally  as  good,  and  from  the  influence  of 
their  habits  and  institutions,  better  as  respects  the  more  atrocious  vices,  than  the 
people  of  most  other  countries,  of  Europe  in  particular.  But,  I  am  constrained 
to  believe,  also,  that  in  a  government  so  constituted  as  ours,  when  immoral  men 
rule  the  corruption  at  the  head,  it  will  soon  be  diffused  throughout  every  part  of  the 
the  body  politic.  One  thing  tending  to  this  is  the  desire  of  office  very  generally 
pervading  the  community,  and  still  more  so  the  wish  of  being  on  the  strongest 
side  and  acting  with  the  majority,  which  is  even  more  prevalent.  The  ignorant 


392  SINGULAR  FABRICATION. 

already  observed,  was  always  usurped  by  this  species  of  good 
republicans;  and  so  deplorable  was  the  stupidity  of  a  certain  por 
tion  of  the  most  enlightened  people  upon  earth,  that  the  following 
fabrication  was  not  too  monstrous  for  their  intellectual  gullets. 
John  Adams,  it  was  stated,  was  about  to  unite  his  house  to  that 
of  his  Majesty  of  Britain,  either  by  marrying  one  of  his  sons  to  one 
of  the  King's  daughters,  or  one  of  his  daughters  to  one  of  the 
King's  sons,  (I  forget  which,)  but  the  consequence  was,  that  the 
bridegroom  was  to  be  King  of  America : — That  General  WASH 
INGTON  had  heard  of  this,  as  well  as  of  the  other  anti-republican 
conduct  of  the  President,  at  which,  he  was,  of  course,  most 
grievously  displeased : — That,  therefore,  he  went  to  talk  to  Mr. 
Adams  upon  the  subject,  and  by  way  of  being  more  persuasive 
by  appearing  gay,  good-humoured  and  friendly,  he  dressed  him 
self  in  a  suit  of  white,  and  discoursed  with  him  very  mildly ;  but 
neither  his  dress  nor  his  arguments  were  of  any  avail.  Then  he 
waited  upon  him  a  second  time,  and  in  order  to  render  his  re 
monstrance  more  solemn  and  impressive,  he  put  on  a  suit  of  black, 
and  set  before  Mr.  Adams  the  heinousness  of  his  proceedings  ;  but 
to  as  little  purpose  as  before.  He,  at  length,  paid  him  a  third 
and  last  visit,  in  which  he  appeared  in  full  regimentals,  when  find- 

and  timid  are  entirely  swayed  by  it,  so  are  the  cunning  and  interested,  as  well  as 
that  lighter  kind  of  stuff  which  yields  to  the  puff  of  every  fashion;  descriptions 
these,  which  comprehend  by  far  the  larger  portion  of  all  communities.  It  requires 
some  strength  of  mind,  as  well  as  strong1  political  impressions,  and  a  dignified 
sense  of  virtue,  to  resist  a  torrent  of  public  opinion  emanating  from  the  source  of 
power,  and  carried  by  the  force  and  influence  of  triumphant  faction  into  private 
dealings,  consigning  to  odium  and  sometimes  to  proscription,  every  man  whether 
lofty  or  humble,  who  does  not  fall  in.  Admitting  this  to  be  the  case  (and  will 
any  candid  man  deny  it  when  the  public  mind  is  in  a  state  of  high  agitation?) 
it  is  not  to  make  the  people  more  than  ordinarily  flagitious,  to  maintain  that  they 
then  become  corrupt  and  instrumental  to  corruption.  Even  their  honest  preju 
dices,  no  less  than  their  vices  may  enlist  them  in  a  policy  ruinous  to  their  country. 
Still  I  must  say,  that  prejudices  arc  as  unamiable  as  they  are  mischievous.  No- 
political  opinions  should  be  taken  up,  and  still  less  persisted  in,  without  strict  ex 
amination.  Want  of  candour  is  want  of  justice;  and  a  tenet  that  will  not  bear 
the  test  of  that  golden  rule,  of  doing  unto  others,  nothing  that  we  would  not  choose 
they  should  do  unto  us,  ought,  without  hesitation,  to  be  discarded.  Love  of 
country  can  no  more  justify  us  in  doing  wrong,  than  love  of  ourselves.  It  is,  in 
fact,  with  most  people,  the  same  thing,  however  they  may  be  pleased  to  dignify  ifc 
with  the  name  of  patriotism. 


ANOTHER  INSURRECTION.  393 

ing  the  President  still  deaf  to  good  counsel,  he  drew  his  sword, 
declaring,  he  would  never  sheath  it,  until  Mr.  Adams  had  relin 
quished  his  wicked  designs ;  and  so  left  him  a  sworn  enemy. 
During  the  circulation  of  this  ingenious  romance,  not  ill  adapted 
to  the  capacities  it  was  designed  for,  and  having  all  the  marks  of 
veracity  derivable  from  circumstantial  minuteness ;  the  letter  from 
General  WASHINGTON,  announcing  his  acceptance  of  the  command 
of  the  provisional  army,  and  his  approbation  of  the  measures  pur 
suing,  was  also  circulating  in  the  federal  prints.  But  this  signified 
nothing,  as  they  never  reached  the  persons  to  be  deluded  by  the 
story ;  and  even  if  they  had  reached  them,  the  letter  would  imme 
diately  have  been  knocked  down  as  a  federal  lie.  Such,  be  it 
again  observed,  is  the  bar  of  public  reason. 

The  consequence  of  these  united  efforts  of  patriotism  and  in 
vention,  was  another  insurrection.  The  sedition  which  began 
in  the  county  of  Northampton,  ran  in  a  vein  through  the  counties 
of  Berks  and  Dauphin,  spreading  the  infection  by  means  of 
liberty  poles,  successively  rising  in  grand  colonnade,  from  the 
banks  of  the  Delaware  to  those  of  the  Susquehanna.  Mr.  Adams 
had  now  to  set  to  work,  to  quell  this  second  effervescence  of 
liberty;  and  it  proved  a  matter  of  no  great  difficulty,  when  force 
was  applied.  Poor  Fries,*  like  the  whiskey  insurgents,  was,  for 
a  time,  left  in  the  lurch ;  but  finally  sent  "  a  coloneling,"  by 
good  Governor  M'Kean.  The  object  of  the  tumult,  however, 
was  perhaps  fully  obtained;  and  had  Fries  been  hanged,  it 
would  have  been  deemed  but  a  very  small  sacrifice.  It  enlisted 
the  feelings  and  resentments  of  a  populous  district  on  the  side  of 
democracy;  and  by  the  spirit  of  turbulence  and  discontent  it 

*  Tliis  was  distinguished  as  Fries's  Insurrection.  It  had  its  origin  in  an  at 
tempt  of  the  Federal  Government  to  collect  a  direct  tax.  The  tax  particularly 
objected  to  was  the  "  house  tax."  It  broke  out  at  the  close  of  the  year  1798,  and 
discords  prevailed  to  an  enormous  extent,  throughout  a  large  portion  of  the  coun 
ties  of  Bucks,  Northampton  and  Montgomery;  and  great  difficulties  attended  the 
Assessors  in  the  execution  of  their  duties.  At  the  head  of  these  hostile  move 
ments,  was  a  certain  John  Fries.  He  was  tried  and  found  guilty  of  conspiracy, 
and  was  sentenced  to  one  year's  imprisonmcDt,  a  fine  of  fifty  dollars,  and  to  give 
security  for  his  good  behaviour  for  a  year.  This  interesting  trial  was  published 
in  Philadelphia,  in  the  year  1800,  and  was  reported  in  short  hand  by  Thomas 
Carpenter. — ED. 


394  MR.  JEFFERSON  ELECTED  PRESIDENT. 

scattered  abroad  in  the  State,  it  helped  to  prepare  the  way  for 
the  coining  in  of  Mr.  M'Kean,  as  its  Governor;  and  thence,  by 
the  "momentum  of  Pennsylvania  politics,"  (noticed  by  Mr. 
Dallas,)  to  pave  the  way  for  the  accession  of  Mr.  Jefferson  to 
the  Presidency.  It  gave  occasion  too,  for  a  useful  nickname  on 
the  administration  of  Mr.  Adams,  which  with  a  sardonic  grin, 
not  unworthy  the  taunting  malignity  of  demons,  was  by  the  re- 
cent  shouters  for  the  mountain  party  of  Robespierre,  denomi 
nated,  a  reign  of  terror,  now  become  a  truly  odious  thing. 

Such  a  fund  of  republicanism,  as  was,  by  these  means  infused 
into  Pennsylvania,  could  not  fail  to  operate  favourably  for  the 
republican  candidate,  Chief  Justice  M'Kean ;  and  he  was,  conse 
quently  elected  Governor  in  preference  to  Mr.  Ross  ;  and  the 
same  causes,  aided  by  Calender's  Prospect  before  us,  that  chef 
d'ceuvre  of  civic  piety,  operating  in  the  same  direction  through 
out  the  Union,  not  long  after,  invested  Mr.  Jefferson  with  the 
presidency.  Summoque  ulularunt  vertice  nymphce*  Ye  who 
have  genius  for  the  epic,  employ  your  talents  here!  one  entire 
action  of  twelve  years  successfully  terminated  at  last,  not  by 
ruffians  stained  with  blood,  but  by  meek  and  gentle  operators  in 
the  "  swindling  arena." 

Such  a  result  was  to  have  been  looked  for.  The  morbid  state 
of  the  public  mind,  was,  I  repeat  it,  to  have  been  deduced  from 
the  very  addresses  to  the  President,  which  have  been  considered 
as  indicative  of  a  manly,  patriotic  vigour.  They  will  on  the  con 
trary  (at  least  it  was  the  impression  made  upon  me  at  the  time 
of  their  appearance)  be  too  generally  found  to  breathe  a  spirit  of 
bigotry;  not  a  generous  love  of  country,  not  an  adequate  horror 
of  vice,  not  a  proper  understanding  of  the  subject,  but  rather  a 
whining  lamentation,  that  the  conduct  of  the  Directory,  so  little 
fraternal,  had  a  tendency  to  impede  and  interrupt  the  glorious 
career  of  illuminatism  and  kingly  demolition.  This  was  evi 
dently  perceived  and  felt  by  Mr.  Adams;  and  was,  doubtless 
his  inducement  for  complimenting  the  Harrisburgh  address,whose 
merit,  if  it  had  any,  was,  that  it  cut  deeper  and  approached 

*  Nymphag,  by  some  of  Virgil's  commentators,  are  here  understood  to  mean 
furies,  and  may  easily  be  extended  to  the  furies  of  Jacobinism  ;  which,  no  doubt, 
howled  in  exultation  upon  this  occasion. 


POPULAR  FANATICISM.  395 

nearer  to  the  source  of  the  evil  than  the  general  tenor  of  the 
addresses  had  done.*  Let  us  love  our  country,  let  us  cherish 
our  institutions,  and  check  their  tendency  to  corruption  and 
abuse;  but  let  us  no  more  think  of  cutting  the  throats  of  those 
who  may  differ  from  us  in  their  civil  polity,  than  of  those  who 
differ  from  us  in  their  religious  creed.  Should  we  not  look  with 
something  more  than  pity  on  the  fanatic,  who  should  languish  to 
kill  the  Pope,  to  exterminate  the  cardinals,  and  annihilate  the 
Holy  See?  What  then  but  an  equally  silly  spirit  of  fanaticism, 
can  induce  us  to  sigh  for  the  re-generation  of  Europe  in  the  ex 
tinction  of  her  kings  and  privileged  orders!  Does  any  one  now 
suppose  that  it  would  meloriate  the  condition  of  mankind  ?  But 
the  symptoms  of  this  most  loathsome  mental  distemper,  were 
never  more  manifest  than  shortly  before  the  downfal  of  federal 
ism,  when  the  gallant  Truxton,  for  an  achievement  that  re 
dounded  to  his  country's  glory,  and  for  which  he  should  have 
received  her  unqualified,  warmest  applause,  was  assailed  with 
brutal  rage,  and  called  a  ruffian  and  a  murderer.  Could  any 
thing  more  clearly  demonstrate,  that  love  of  country  was  swal 
lowed  up  in  a  rage  for  political  theory? 

By  this  memorable  victory  of  Pennsylvania  democracy  for  the 
behoof  of  Virginia  aristocracy,  occasion  is  afforded  for  much  seri 
ous  reflection  on  the  sad  effects  of  party  fury;  and  giving  the 
reign  to  those  vindictive  passions,  which  arise  from  selfishness 
opposed.  No  man,  perhaps,  ever  more  fatally  and  intempe- 
rately  rioted  in  their  indulgence  than  Mr.  M'Kean.  But  the 
affair  is  old,  and  I  am  little  disposed  to  renew  it.  As  keenly 
sensible  to  injury  as  any  one,  I  have  felt  with  poignancy,  and 
given  vent  to  my  indignation ;  but  it  is  neither  for  my  reputa 
tion  nor  my  repose,  to  cherish  feelings  which  deform  the  outward 
man,  and  prey  upon  the  breast  which  harbors  them.  I  shall  be 
cold,  therefore,  upon  a  subject,  wherein  warmth  and  even  acri 
mony  might  be  justified. 

From  the  account  I  have  given  of  my  political  opinions,  it  can 
scarcely  be  necessary  to  say,  that  my  vote  was  on  the  federal 
side,  and  given  for  Mr.  Ross;  and  that  I  was  of  course  involved 

*  Sec  the  Address,  with  the  answer  of  Mr.  ADAMS,  in  Appendix  R. — ED. 


396 

in  the  proscription  that  followed  the  defeat  of  my  party.  In  a 
word,  I  was  one  of  those,  who  were  loaded  with  reproach  and 
detruded  from  office,  as  men  unworthy  to  partake  of  the  honours, 
or  even  to  eat  the  bread  of  their  country.  The  extent  of  my 
offending,  the  reader  is  acquainted  with.  It  was  the  crime  of 
my  party  in  being  prematurely  right ;  in  daring  to  be  wiser  than 
the  great  body  of  the  people.  Why  then  did  I  not  play  the 
dotard  with  my  country?  Why  did  I  not  sigh  for  fraternity  with 
France,  unconscious  of  the  peril  that  awaited  it  ? 

"  I  swear  'tis  better  to  be  much  abus'd, 
Than  but  to  know't  a  little." 

If  I  unfortunately  thought  differently  from  Mr.  M'Kean  on  the 
highly  interesting  subject  of  Gallic  republicanism,  and,  in  so 
doing  apostatized  from  my  former  Whigism,  I  can  only  say,  I 
could  not  help  it.  That  I  did  not  forego  my  opinion  when  I 
found  it  repugnant  to  his,  is  not  a  matter  of  so  easy  extrication. 
I  was  contumacious,  I  know  I  was.  But  my  conscience  is  satis 
fied  ;  and  that  I  never  shouted  in  the  sanguinary  triumphs  of 
the  Jacobins,  will,  though  it  has  made  me  poorer,  bring  conso 
lation  along  with  it,  in  the  close  of  a  life,  which,  in  all  other 
respects  I  could  wish,  had  been  equally  blameless.  An  early 
enthusiast  in  a  most  unfashionable  cause, 

Some  sign  to  me  unknown 
Dipp'd  me  in  ink,  my  parent's  or  my  own ; 

even  before  my  sentiments  could  be  relished  by  the  generality 
of  the  party  to  which  I  belonged  ;  and  while,  from  their  novelty, 
they  were  so  shocking  to  others,  as  to  draw  into  question  the 
sanity  of  my  intellects.  I  had  even  ventured  to  shed  a  tear  for 
the  fate  of  Louis  and  his  family;  I  had  presumed  to  doubt  the 
wisdom  of  Brissot,  and  to  arraign  the  humanity  of  Robespierre, 
long  before  the  guillotine  had  granted  toleration  for  these 
opinions. 

But  independent  of  so  much  heterodoxy,  my  simple  vote  had 
been  sufficient  for  the  punishment  that  ensued ;  since  the  posses 
sions  of  the  vanquished,  were,  in  the  true  spirit  of  the  feudal 


397 

system,  to  be  parcelled  out  among  the  champions  of  the  victorious 
leader.  This,  without  doubt,  was  a  mutual  preliminary  to  a  part 
nership  in  the  war;  and  as  among  the  holders  of  office,  in  the 
apologetic  naivete  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  "few  died  and  none  re 
signed,"  what  was  left  but  to  cashier  them  ?  I  forbear  to  reiterate 
here,  the  stale  remark  that  the  free,  unbiassed  suffrage  of  the  citi 
zens,  is  the  basis  of  the  republican  form  of  government.  Maxims 
have  their  use,  but  must  be  wholly  disregarded  in  extreme  cases ; 
as,  in  England,  the  Habeas  Corpus  act.  Republicanism  herself, 
was  here  in  danger.  Was  not  a  band  of  conspirators,  with 
WASHINGTON  at  their  head,  in  the  very  act  of  establishing  a  mo 
narchy  under  the  insidious  mask  of  federalism  ?* 

A  man  desirous  to  knowthe  world  ought  to  place  himself  in  every 
situation  to  which  the  vicissitudes  of  life  may  expose  him.  Above 
all  he  should  be  acquainted  with  adversity,  and  that  particular 
kind  of  it,  wrhich  results  from  a  sudden  reverse  of  fortune.  But 
to  see  the  heart  of  man,  in  that  most  unfavourable  point  of  view, 
in  which  the  milk  of  human  kindness  is  turned  to  gall  and  bitterness, 
he  should  behold  it  when  elate  with  a  "republican  triumph."  It 
has  twice  been  my  lot  to  smart  under  the  hand  of  oppression.  I 
have  been  exposed  to  the  fury  both  of  royal  and  republican  ven 
geance  ;  and  unless  I  may  be  misled  by  the  greater  recency  of 
the  latter,  I  am  compelled  to  say,  that  the  first,  though  bad,  was 
most  mitigated  by  instances  of  generosity.  If  it  produced  the 
enormities  the  reader  has  been  made  acquainted  with,  the  other 
was  ruthless  enough  to  rejoice  at  the  sight  of  helpless  families,  at 
once  reduced  to  indigence,  stripped  of  their  subsistence,  driven 
from  their  homes,  and  sent  to  seek  their  bread  by  toiling  in  a 
wilderness.  This  is  no  exaggerated  picture ;  I  saw  the  reality 
and  felt  it  too,  in  the  case  of  a  near  connexion.  And  for  what 
crime  was  it  the  punishment?  For  embracing  the  policy  of 
WASHINGTON  ;  for  being  true  to  the  dictates  of  honesty ;  to  the 

*  This  apostacy  to  monarchy,  was  inferred  from  President  WASHINGTON'S  not 
joining  the  French  against  England  ;  but  now,  when  Spain  is  contending  for  her 
rights  and  liberties,  the  Jeffcrsonians  can  make  common  cause  with  her  perfidious 
oppressor  without  danger  of  any  such  deduction  or  imputation.  Their  incorrupti 
ble  republicanism  can  even  take  the  fraternal  hug  with  an  emperor  without  the 
smallest  suspicion  of  contamination. 

34 


398 


DEATH  OF  WASHINGTON. 


interests  of  their  country,  to  the  interests  of  humanity;  for  having 
larger  hearts,  and  greater  minds,  and  nobler  souls  than  those, 
who,  by  the  inscrutable  will  of  Heaven,  were  permitted  to  be 
their  chastisers. 

The  death  of  the  great  Father  of  his  Country,  which  happened 
between  the  election  and  the  inauguration  of  the  Governor,  af 
forded  another  instance  of  democratic  versatility.  He  was  pub 
licly  and  pathetically  lamented  and  extolled  by  the  leaders  of  the 
party:  By  Mr.  M'Kean,  while  in  the  very  act  of  chastising  his 
followers;  and  by  Mr.  Jefferson  while  contemplating  a  similar 
conduct.  The  latter,  it  is  said,  made  a  visit  to  his  tomb,  which 
he  plenteously  bedewed  with  tears,  and  groaned  aloud  with  every 
gesture  of  the  deepest  woe.*  Achilles  himself  was  not  more  in 
consolable  for  the  loss  of  his  Patroclus :  and  even  in  the  sacrifice 
of  twelve  young  Trojans  to  his  manes,  he  was  far  outdone  by  this 
illustrious  modern  mourner,  with  the  remarkable  difference,  how 
ever,  that  whereas  the  one  made  victims  of  the  enemies,  the  other 
selected  for  immolation,  the  friends  of  the  lamented  dead. 

Utcumque  fcrent  ea  facta  minores  ; 
Vincet  amor  patrioe,  laudumque  immensa  cupido. 

In  the  election  of  Mr.  Jefferson  the  long  and  persevering  efforts 
of  democracy  had  obtained  their  ultimatum;  the  beginning  of  that 
millenium  that  had  been  so  anxiously  sighed  for.  With  this  pro 
pitious  era,  therefore,  I  close  my  narrative  of  political  events  and 
party  machinations.  I  had,  indeed,  aimed  at  nothing  more  than 

*  The  reader  of  Mr.  JEFFERSON'S  "Memoirs  and  Correspondence"  will  turn  away 
with  loathing  from  this  miserable  exhibition  of  hypocrisy  :  particularly  when  lie 
recalls  to  his  recollection  certain  passages  of  the  "ANA,"  in  which  the  cloven  foot 
is  unskilfully  concealed.  WASHINGTON  was  fully  advised  of  MR.  JEFFERSON'S 
duplicity  as  to  himself,  and  placed  a  proper  estimate  upon  his  character  and 
designs.  In  his  letter  to  JOHN  NICHOLAS,  dated  8th  March,  1793,  WASHINGTON 
wrote:  "Nothing  short  of  the  evidence  you  have  adduced,  corroborative  of  inti 
mations  which  I  had  received  long  before  through  another  channel,  could  have 
shaken  my  belief  in  the  sincerity  of  a  friendship  which  I  had  conceived  was 
possessed  for  me  by  the  person  [Jefferson]  to  whom  you  allude.  But  attempts  to 
injure  those  who  arc  supposed  to  stand  well  in  the  estimation  of  the  people,  and 
are  stumbling  blocks  in  the  way,  by  misrepresenting  their  political  tenets,  and 
thereby  to  destroy  all  confidence  in  them,  are  among  the  means  by  which  the 
Government  is  to  be  assailed,  and  the  Constitution  destroyed." — ED. 


CHARACTER  OF  JEFFERSON.  399 

a  sketch  of  public  affairs,  in  so  far  as  my  fortune  was  more  pecu 
liarly  implicated  in  them.  As  to  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  in 
the  management  of  his  high  trust,  it  would  appear  to  have  been  his 
primary  object,  to  discredit  the  republican  form  of  government,  by 
illustrating  the  abuses  of  which  it  is  susceptible,  and  its  proneness 
to  become  the  prey  of  unprincipled  intriguers.  I  should  suppose 
him  to  be  a  monarchist  of  the  true  imperial  cut;  and  that  his 
administration  was  peculiarly  calculated  to  surfeit  us  with  liberty; 
to  expose  the  nakedness  of  our  systems,  and  the  extreme  fragility 
of  those  ties  he  once  denominated  Lilliputian.  Upon  this  hypo 
thesis,  all  is  plain  and  consistent;  on  every  other,  inexplicable, 
unless  we  can  admit  the  possibility  of  a  philosopher  being  a  fool, 
or,  of  a  patriot  being  a  man  solely  bent  on  filling  his  pocket. 
Methinks  I  see  the  mighty  personage,  like  a  sated  Condor  on  the 
Andes,  sublimely  perched  on  Monticello,  triumphantly  deriding 
the  clumsy  labours  of  New  England  morality,  and  self-compla- 
cently  counting  the  gains  of  his  superior  illumination.  But 
whether  the  speculum  through  which  I  view  him  may  magnify  or 
diminish  him,  show  him  justly  or  distort  him,  it  is  too  manifest  a 
truth,  that  the  lesson  given  by  France,  we  are  inculcating  with  all 
our  might,  and  erecting  America,  also,  into  a  beacon  instead  of  a 
guide.  To  the  sad  example  of  former  Republics,  we  are  eagerly 
adding  our  own,  and  certifying  in  colossal  characters  to  the  world, 
the  melancholy  result  of  "this  last  and  fairest  experiment,"  in 
favour  of  free  government.* 

*  The  melancholy  result  alluded  to,  is,  that  a  combination  of  selfish,  unprin 
cipled  men,  are  able  to  pass  themselves  off  for  paragons  of  virtue  and  patriotism. 
But,  such  is  our  vis  medicatrix  natures ;  our  tendency  to  resist  and  recover  from 
the  impolicy  of  our  rulers,  that  our  country  is  still  prosperous  in  defiance  of  all 
their  sinister  efforts  for  our  ruin :  and  hence  it  is,  that  not  only  the  mass  of  our 
own  people  are  imposed  upon,  but  the  enlightened  of  other  nations,  who  know 
nothing  of  our  affairs  in  detail.  "It  is  thus,  in  America,"  says  Madame  de  Stae'l, 
"that  a  great  number  of  political  problems  appear  to  be  solved,  because  the  citi 
zens  arc  happy  and  independent."  Yes,  several  political  problems  are,  indeed, 
solved,  and  one  of  them  is,  that  demagogues  are  as  omnipotent  here  as  ever  they 
were  in  the  Republics  of  Greece,  and  that  an  Aristides  among  us  is  not  a  jot 
more  secure  from  ostracism  than  he  was  at  Athens.  But  still,  it  is  true,  we  go 
on,  and  are  getting  rich,  and  have  no  tyranny  or  injustice  that  we  do  not  inflict 
ourselves ;  and  the  great  problem  that  yet  remains  to  be  solved,  is,  how  long  a 
Republic  can  flourish  or  subsist  without  good  morals.  A  rigorous  prosecution  of 


400  .  CONCLUDING  REFLECTIONS. 

As  to  myself,  I  have  obtained  the  reward  which  perhaps  every 
man  must  look  for,  "  who,  upon  the  strength  of  innocence  alone, 
shall  dare  openly  to  speak  the  truth,  without  first  propping  him 
self  by  cabals,  without  forming  parties  for  his  protection."  I  have 
not  only  been  punished  by  my  political  enemies,  but  have  seen 
the  justice  of  the  measure  solemnly  ratified  by  the  suffrages  of 
those  whom  I  supposed  to  be  my  friends.  For  the  sake  of  a 
paper  constitution,  whose  threatened  destruction  has  become  the 
trick  of  the  demagogue,  seeking  power,  as  its  preservation  be 
comes  his  device,  so  soon  as  he  is  invested  with  it,  a  host  of 
officers,  that  had  been  prostrated  by  the  pioneer  of  Mr.  Jefferson, 
were  coolly  and  remorselessly  consigned  to  their  fate  by  the  fede 
ralists.  The  substance  of  justice  was  exchanged  for  its  shadow, 
and  the  principle  established,  that  virtue  is  a  certain  bar  to  the 
attainment  of  power,  an  encumbrance  which  the  candidate  cannot 
too  soon  shake  off;  and,  that  corruption  and  wrong  mark  the 
route  to  be  pursued.*  This,  be  it  known,  is  the  unanimous  de 
cree  in  Pennsylvania,  the  law  of  the  land,  nemiw  contradicente. 
A  similar,  but  much  less  galling  and  extensively  mischievous  in 
stance  of  ratified  oppression,  gave  birth  to  the  Social  Contract  of 
Rousseau.  He  had  been  borne  dowrn,  unjustly,  as  he  supposed, 
by  the  French  ambassador  to  Venice,  to  whom  he  had  been  secre 
tary,  and  with  whom  he  had  a  dispute ;  and  his  oppressor,  coun 
tenanced  and  supported  by  the  community,  first  gave  him,  as  he 

the  last  war  by  Britain  for  two  years  more,  would  have  thrown  much  light  on 
the  solution  of  the  problem. 

*  They  had  soon,  moreover,  the  mortification  to  find  that  he  had  no  longer  the 
ability  to  serve  them.  His  influence  with  the  democrats  was  at  an  end  ;  and  he 
was  only  potent  while  acting  in  their  views,  and  hunting  down  with  them  in  full 
cry,  their  political  opponents.  It  might  now  be  said  of  him  as  it  was  of  Labienus, 
when  he  left  Caesar's  standard  for  Pompey's  : 

Fortes  in  armis 
Caesaris  Labienus  crat  nunc  transfurga  vilis. 

The  only  result,  then,  of  this  grand  political  manoeuvre  was  that  the  federalists 
exclusively  fastened  on  themselves  the  odium  of  this  man's  tyrannical  character 
by  this  their  sanction  of  his  violent  and  oppressive  conduct.  Strange  that  they 
should  forget  that  their  principles  were  essentially  bottomed  on  morality  and 
virtue ;  things  much  more  sacred  and  radically  important  than  the  forms  of  a 
Constitution. 


REFLECTIONS.  401 

informs  us,  the  idea  of  a  comparative  analysis  of  the  government 
and  society  to  whose  justice  he  had  appealed  in  vain.  "Every 
body  agreed,"  says  he,  "that  I  was  insulted,  injured  and  unfor- 
nate;  that  the  ambassador  was  mad,  cruel  and  iniquitous,  and 
that  the  whole  of  the  affair  dishonoured  him  forever.  But  what 
of  this  ?  He  was  the  ambassador,  and  I  was  nothing  more  than 
the  secretary.  The  justice  and  inutility  of  my  complaints,  left  in 
my  mind  seeds  of  indignation  against  our  foolish  civil  institutions, 
by  which  the  welfare  of  the  public  and  real  justice  are  always 
sacrificed,  to  I  know  not  what  appearance  of  order;  and  which 
does  nothing  more,  than  add  the  sanction  of  public  authority  to 
the  oppression  of  the  weak  and  iniquity  of  the  powerful."  It  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  mention,  that  these  remarks  refer  to  the 
ancient  monarchy  of  France.  Could  the  author  of  the  Social 
Contract  have  supposed  that  they  could  ever  be  equally  applicable 
to  institutions  expressly  founded  on  the  principles  of  liberty  and 
justice,  and  which  even  aim  at  restoring  the  natural  equality  of 
mankind !  But  Rousseau  was  not  aware,  that  the  germ  of  the  evil 
he  complained  of,  was  not  in  any  particular  form  of  goverment, 
but  in  the  world,  ever  slavishly  inclined  to  offer  incense  to  power, 
with  very  little  regard  to  the  general  justice  of  its  exercise. 

If  the  end  of  punishment  be  to  reform,  mine  has  been  wholly 
lost  upon  me ;  though  my  example  has  no  doubt  been  useful  to 
others.  I  was  too  high-toned  and  indiscreet  even  in  the  opinion 
of  many  federalists;  for  many  there  were  who  saw  no  wisdom  in 
martyrdom.*  I  am  still,  however,  to  speak  the  truth,  a  most 

*  Matters  are  now  both  better  understood  and  better  managed;  and  much 
toleration  is  granted  to  those  ardent  and  aspiring  spirits,  who  cannot  endure  to 
wait  until  virtue  shall  obtain  her  own  reward.  The  process  is  too  slow,  the  re 
sult  too  uncertain.  Hence  the  short  cut  to  distinction  and  office,  bids  fair  to  be 
all  the  mode  ;  and,  to  the  honour  of  democracy  be  it  said,  that  she  suffers  apostacy 
to  go  unrewarded,  having  truly  more  joy,  as  it  would  seem,  in  the  recognition  of 
one  repentant  sinner,  than  in  the  contemplation  of  ninety  just.  All  that  appears 
exceptionable  in  the  tergiversating  business,  is,  that  in  the  way  it  is  now  prac 
ticed,  it  looks  too  much  like  deserting  and  taking  advantage  of  our  duller  and  less 
ethereal  political  associates.  But,  if  the  federalists  would  one  and  all  come  into, 
the  measure  ;  if,  as  a  party  they  would  renounce  Iheir  opposition  and  their  errors  ; 
if  they  would  proclaim  themselves  converts,  succumb  to  their  victors,  and  taking 
their  cue  from  the  tamed  shrew  of  Shakspearc,  would  say  the  sun  was  the  moon, 
or  the  moon  was  the  sun,  in  obedience  to  the  whim  of  democratic  dictation ;  why 

34* 


402  REFLECTIONS. 

incorrigible  sinner,  though  somewhat  cooled  of  ray  ardour ;  and 
so  little  amended  by  the  chastisement  I  have  received,  as  to  be 
hold,  if  possible,  with  increased  contempt  and  execration,  the 
procedures  of  those  very  great  and  good  men,  under  whose 
auspices  it  has  been  administered.  The  possession  of  power  has 
exhibited  them  in  even  blacker  colours,  than  did  the  sink  in 
which  they  "lay  straining  their  low  thought,"  to  obtain  it:  and 
although  unable  to  vie  with  our  dear  departed  sister  republic  in 
deeds  of  martial  emprize,  we  certainly  "  gall  her  kibes,"  in  those 
of  fraudulent  achievement.  In  truth,  we  must  by  this  time  be 
nearly  mature.  Hypocrisy,  we  are  told,  is  the  consummation  of 
vice;  and  the  libertine  hero  of  Moliere's  Festin  de  Pierre,  is  not 
thought  ripe  for  destruction  until  he  receives  this  last  polish  of 
villany. 

If  there  be  any  thing  wrong  in  this  language,  it  does  not  arise 
from  its  being  applied  to  a  point  of  which  there  is  any  doubt; 
but  merely  from  its  solemnity  approximating  it  to  bombast,  by 
being  employed  on  a  matter,  become  trivial  from  extreme  fami 
liarity.  However  shocked  at  first,  we  now  only  laugh  at  the 
monstrosities  of  the  era.  After  what  we  have  seen  in  France, 
and  are  now  witnessing  at  home,  Caligula's  making  his  horse 
consul  is  a  thing  of  very  easy  belief;  nor  is  any  historical  pheno 
menon  more  incredible  than  the  mutual  passion  subsisting  be 
tween  enthusiastic  republicanism  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  most 
desolating  and  dismaying  system  of  despotism,  which  the  world 
has  yet  beheld,  on  the  other.* 

then  "  the  doors  of  honour  and  confidence  would  be  thrown  open  to  all,"  and  we 
should  hear  no  more  of  faction  and  "anti-republican  tendencies."  But,  how  far 
this  might  improve  our  morals,  and  narrow  the  ground  for  European  defamation, 
is  another  thing,  but  wholly  immaterial  to  a  community  whose  "  own  approba 
tion  of  its  own  acts,"  to  use  the  words  of  Burke,  u  has  to  them  the  appearance  of 
a  public  judgment  in  their  favour." 

*  "A  perfect  democracy,"  says  the  inspired  Burke,  u  is  the  most  shameless  thing 
in  the  world.  And  as  it  is  the  most  shameless  it  is  also  the  most  fearless.  It  is 
less  under  responsibility  to  one  of  the  greatest  controlling  powers  on  earth,  the 
sense  of  fame  and  estimation.  The  share  of  infamy  that  is  likely  to  fall  to  the 
tot  of  each  individual  in  public  acts,  is  small  indeed;  the  operation  of  opinion 
being  in  the  inverse  ratio  to  the  number  of  those  who  abuse  power.  Their  own 
approbation  of  their  own  acts,  has  to  them  the  appearance  of  a  public  judgment 
in  their  favour."  Who  could  not  conclude,  from  the  justness  in  every  iota  of 


REFLECTIONS.  403 

Though  this  picture  may  pass  with  some,  for  a  hideous  cari 
cature,  enough  of  truth,  I  trust  will  be  found  in  it,  to  convince 
them  that  we  are  no  longer  in  that  full  tide  of  successful  ex 
periment,  that  wafted  Mr.  Jefferson  into  office,*  that,  on  the 
contrary,  we  felt  the  influence  of  "  retiring  ebb,"  and  were 
therefore,  needlessly  vigilant  in  guarding  against  the  inroads  of 
British  corruption.  Neither  have  we  shown  that  we  are  so  en 
tirely  well  adapted  to  our  institutions  as  to  render  it  a  necessary 
ingredient  in  the  education  of  our  youth,  to  prepossess  them  with 
a  bigoted  aversion  to  every  other  mode  of  government,  and 
thereby  to  render  them  the  ready  patrons  of  insurrection  and 
anarchy  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  The  commentaries  of 
Blackstone,  \ve  are  told  by  a  great  law  character  and  writer, 
should  be  studied  with  caution,  since  he  is  heterodox  in  some 
of  his  opinions,  and  does  not  trace  power  to  its  genuine  source ; 
that  is,  "  through  its  small  and  pure  streams  up  to  the  free  and 
independent  man."  Mr.  Burke  too,  comes  under  the  lash  of  the 
American  statesman,  who,  with  a  sneer,  that  had  much  better 
been  spared,  insinuates  his  want  of  integrity,  and  talks  of  his 
"  new  creed."  But  what  did  Mr.  Wilson  know  of  his  old  one  ? 
Was  it  ever  confided  to  him?  Did  Mr.  Burke  ever  tell  him  that 
he  was  not  a  monarchist,  but  a  republican  ?  For  he  certainly 

these  remarks,  that  their  author  had  been  an  eye  witness  of  the  administration  of 
JEFFERSON  and  MADISOX,  in  every  stage  of  their  barefaced  effrontery  and  duplicity! 
I  almost  pity  these  unhappy  men,  destined  to  wear  out  the  wretched  remnant  of 
their  days  without  one  drop  of  the  balm  of  self-approbation,  absolutely  cut  off 
from  the  pleasure,  no  less  than  the  profit  of  reading  Burke,  as  in  every  page  of 
his  political  morality,  they  would  be  sure  of  meeting  a  cutting  satire  on  them 
selves.  But,  of  demagogues  and  tyrants,  the  condemnation  is  the  same. 

Magne  pater  divum,  SBDVOS  punire  tyrannos 
Haud  alia  ratione  velis,  cum  dira  libido 
Moverit  ingenium  fervente  tincta  veneno 
Virtutem  videant,  intabcscantque  relicta. 

Pers.  Sat.  3d. 

*  This  truly  "•  successful  experiment"  is  partially  explained;  and  the  means  by 
which  MR.  JEFFERSON  was  "  wafted  into  office,"  fully  exposed,  if  biographers 
and  historians  always  speak  the  truth,  by  a  scrap  of  secret  history  for  which,  I 
believe,  the  world  is  indebted  to  Mr.  DAVIS,  the  able  and  candid  author  of  the  Life 
of  BURR.  See  Appendix  S. — ED. 


404 


REFLECTIONS. 


never  told  the  world  so.     Mr.  Wilson  was  an  able  man,  and  his 
eloquence  as  a  speaker,  singularly  forcible  and  commanding ;  but 
when  he  undertakes  to  raise  trophies  to  himself  from  the  dispraise 
of  such  men  as  Blackstone  and  Burke,  he  engages  in  a  task  which 
may  justly  be  termed  a  bold  one.     As  to  the  fine  allegory,  tinder 
which  the  fountain  of  political  power  is  represented  to°have  been 
at  length  discovered,  like  the  source  of  the  Nile,  what  does  it 
amount  to?     It  may  be  happily  conceived,  but  it  is  little  satis 
factory.     :<  Men's  rights,"  says  Mr.  Burke,  "are  their  advan 
tages."     This  is  coming  to  the  point:  and  it  is  not  a  discovery 
of  the  source  of  power,  that  decides  the  question  of  human  hap- 
piness,  but  how  its  streams  can  be  best  distributed  for  the  attain 
ment  of  that  end.     After  finding  power  to  originate  in  the  free 
and  independent  man,  we  have  yet  to  inquire,  Whether  this  free 
and  independent  man,  will  voluntarily  submit  to  the  restraints 
which  the  good  of  the  community  requires  of  him.     If  he  will, 
Mr.  Wilson  is  both  practically  and  theoretically  right;  and  the 
question,  as  to  forms  of  government,  is  at  rest.     But  his  manner 
seems  rather  too  dogmatical,  considering  that  he  is  the  advocate 
of  a  system,  which,  however  plausible  in  theory,  has  experience 
against  it:  and  when  he  compliments  us  Pennsylvanians,  for  our 
love  "  of  liberty  and  law,"  he  must  certainly  have  adopted  the 
maxim  of  laudando  admonere,  since  neither  in  the  attack  of  his 
own  house,  nor  in  our  two  more  recent  insurrections,  is  this  dis 
tinguished  love  of  law  to  be  recognised.     There  appears  to  me, 
therefore,  more  propriety  and  wisdom  in  speaking  of  our  institu 
tions,  as  experiments,  whose  failure  may  be  deemed  the  general 
misfortune  of  mankind,  as  is  done  by  Mr.  Hamilton,  in  his  Fe 
deralist,  than  in  treating  those  with  disrespect  ami  asperity,  who 

have  laboured  to  support  other  principles  of  government, prin- 

cipless  too,  which  seem  absolutely  essential  to  order,  in  the  na 
tion  of  which  they  were  subjects.  That  we  possess  advantages, 
which  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  old  world,  I  have  no  difficulty 
in  believing;, but  in  an  estimate  of  our  comparative  superiority, 
it  is  but  fair  to  abstract  from  our  polity  the  benefits  derived  from 
our  state  of  society  and  population.  Instead,  then  of  engaging 
in  scholastic  disputations  and  wars  of  extermination  about  politi 
cal  modes  of  faith,  let  us  be  content  with  performing  our  duties 


RELFECTIONS.  405 

to  the  system  we  have  established  for  ourselves:  and,  in  the 
writings  of  this  very  Mr.  Burke,  heretic  and  apostate  though  he 
be,  a  most  excellent  lesson  may  be  found  for  our  purpose.  It  is 
in  his  Appeal  to  the  Old  Whigs,  page  82,  of  the  New  York  edi 
tion.  The  passage  struck  me,  as  containing  reasoning,  at  once 
new,  moral  and  refined ;  but  I  have  since  found  it  to  be  merely 
a  dilatation  of  the  quatrain  of  Gui  du  Fur  de  Pibrac,  in  words, 
which  are  evidently  the  text  of  Mr.  Burke's  most  beautiful  com 
mentary. 

Aime  1'etat,  tel  que  tu  le  vois  etre  : 

S'il  royal  aimc  la  royaute ; 

S'il  ne  Test  point,  s'il  est  communaute 

Aime  le  aussi,  quand  dieu  t'y  a  fait  naitre.* 

Still  if  the  sentiment  be  thought  too  indulgent  to  legitimate 
monarchy,!  (and  nothing  royal  is  to  be  endured,  it  seems,  unless 
proceeding  from  fraud,  usurpation  and  violence)  I  say  with  Mr. 
Wilson,  that  democracy  is  the  best  of  all  possible  governments — 
if  the  people  are  not  wanting  to  themselves.  But,  that  we  have 
been  latterly  a  good  deal  wanting  to  ourselves,  I  must  be  per 
mitted  to  believe  ;  and  also  to  think  with  Mr.  Hillhouse,  that  in 
the  present  corrupted  state  of  our  morals,  what  has  been  absurdly 
termed  a  strong  executive,  and  thought  our  best  security,  has  be 
come  our  greatest  bane — that  the  splendour  of  chief-magistracy 
we  must  not  look  to  have;  but,  in  its  stead,  an  unostentatious, 
ephemeral  head,  begotten  by  chance,  and  dying  while  yet  in  in 
fancy — literally  coming  up  and  cut  down  like  a  flower.  The 
attributes  of  royalty,  neither  become  us,  nor  are  good  for  us. 

*  It  may  thus  be  translated  :  Love  the  state  to  which  you  belong1,  such  as  you 
find  it  to  be:  if,  of  the  royal  kind,  love  and  be  loyal  to  it:  if,  on  the  contrary,  it 
be  a  commonwealth,  equally  love  and  be  faithful  to  it,  since  Heaven  has  made  it 
the  place  of  your  nativity. 

t  This  remark  anticipated  the  great  question,  since  made,  between  legitimacy 
and  usurpation.  A  shape  imparted  to  politics  about  the  time  of  the  battle  of 
Waterloo,  in  1815,  and  not  adverted  to  in  discussion,  until  after  that  event.  Re- 
publicanism  having  been  fairly  renounced  by  the  French  Revolutionists,  the  only 
ground  left  for  them,  was  the  vindication  'of  new  monarchy  in  oppositiqn  to  the 
old,  of  upstarts  supported  by  human  slaughter,  termed  glory,  in  opposition  to  the 
civil  arts,  of  industry  and  commerce,  fostered  by  the  influences  of  religion  and 
peace.  A  state  of  things  vainly  stigmatized  as  indicative  of  imbecility  and  na 
tional  degradation. 


406  REFLECTIONS. 

They  sink  our  great  men  into  very  little  ones,  or  only,  "  aggran 
dize  them  into  baseness."  To  give  any  chance  therefore  for  the 
operations  of  patriotism,  we  must  smother  that  obtrusive  thing 
called  self;  and  by  taking  away,  or  rendering  power  uncertain 
and  fugitive,  we  must,  with  pious  humility,  endeavour  to  de 
liver  ourselves  from  temptation. 

I  arn  aware  of  the  offence  which  may  be  given  by  these  ob 
servations;  but  I  will  not  now  begin  to  cajole,  when  I  have 
foregone  beyond  redemption,  what  might  once  have  been  gained 
by  it.  Having  spoken  truth  so  long,  I  will  persevere  to  the  end  ; 
nor,  though  fully  admitting  that  by  a  virtuous  use  of  the  govern 
ment  we  possess,  we  may  become  the  most  happy  people  upon 
earth,  am  I  at  all  disposed  to  conceal,  that  by  the  nefarious  po 
licy  in  fashion,  we  are  in  a  fair  way  of  rendering  ourselves  the 
most  miserable.  One  of  its  fundamental  maxims,  and,  to  all 
appearance,  its  most  favourite  one,  is,  that  Britian  must  be  de 
stroyed.  A  power  which  is  evidently  the  world's  last  hope 
against  the  desolating  scene  of  universal  slavery.*  A  country 
too,  which  in  the  language  of  a  native  American,  who  tells  us, 
he  had  entertained  the  common  prejudices  against  her,  presents 
"  the  most  beautiful  and  perfect  model  of  public  and  private 
prosperity,  the  most  magnificent  and  at  the  same  time,  most 
solid  fabric  of  social  happiness  and  national  grandeur.  And  yet 
all  this  is  to  be  demolished,  because  some  thirty  years  ago,f  we 
were  engaged  with  her  in  a  contest,  which,  so  far  as  indepen 
dence  is  implicated,  appears  now  to  have  been  a  truly  *  unpro 
fitable  one.'  But  God  forbid  that  the  long-lived  malice  of  Mr. 
Jefferson,  should  be  gratified !  And  the  deprecation  is  equally 
extended  to  his  successor,  should  he  unhappily  harbour  the  same 
pitiable  rancour.  If  these  gentlemen,  during  the  war,  have  had 
their  nerves  too  rudely  shocked  by  the  invader,  to  be  able  to 
recover  their  propriety,  or  to  adhere  to  the  assurance  given  in 

*  If  there  is  any  thing  degrading  in  this  sentiment,  we  may  thank  ourselves  for 
affording  ground  for  it.  For  it  is  absurd  to  talk  of  righting,  where  empty  trea 
suries  arc  preferred  to  full  ones,  where  cowardice  has  been  inculcated  both  by 
maxims,  and  device?,  and  where  the  people  have  been  taught  to  believe,  that  taxa 
tion  is  oppression. 

t  It  will  be  recollected  that  these  Memoirs  were  first  printed  in  the  year 
1811.— ED. 


REFLECTIONS.  407 

the  Declaration  of  Independence,  of  considering  the  English  as 
"friends  in  peace,  and  only  enemies  in  war,"  they  ought  to  re 
flect,  that  it  is  not  strictly  patriotic,  to  risk  the  ruin  of  their 
country,  to  obtain  revenge.  Or,  if  they  are  only  unluckily  com 
mitted,  through  a  prodigality  of  stipulation,  for  the  sake  of  dear 
Louisiana — God  send  them  a  good  deliverance,  or  at  least  their 
country  a  happy  riddance,  both  of  the  vender  and  vendees. 

That  England  has  long  been,  and  still  is  fighting  the  battle  of 
the  civilized  world,  I  hold  it  to  be  an  incontrovertible  truth.* 
The  observation  I  know  to  be  trite,  but  I  am  not  a  servile  fol 
lower  in  the  use  of  it.  So  long  ago  as  the  year  1797,  I  was  the 
author  of  the  following  sentiment  in  Mr.  Fenno's  Gazette.  "As 
to  Great  Britian,  with  all  her  errors  and  vices,  and  little  perhaps 
as  America  may  owe  her,  considering  the  situation  in  which  she 
has  been  fortuitously  placed  by  the  dreadful  convulsions  of  Eu 
rope,  so  far  from  wishing  her  downfall,  I  consider  her  preserva 
tion  as  of  real  importance  to  mankind  ;  and  have  long  looked 
upon  her  as  the  barrier  betwixt  the  world  and  anarchy."!  The 

*  The  reader  must  still  bear  in  mind  the  period  at  which  this  was  written. 
NAPOLEON,  "  the  Conquerer  of  Nations,"  occupied  the  throne  of  France,  and  was 
waging  his  yet  successful  war  against  the  dynasties  of  "out- worn  Europe." 
England  was  not  fighting  the  "battle  of  the  civilized  world ;"  she  was  fighting 
for  its  mastery.  During  all  the  early  part  of  that  contest  down,  at  least,  to  the 
treaty  of  TILSIT,  she  was  upholding  the  cause  of  despotism;  and  if  she  afterwards 
became  involved  in  a  struggle  for  self-preservation,  it  was  owing  in  no  inconsi 
derable  degree  to  her  own  ambition.  She  has  carried  her  encroachments  into 
every  quarter  of  the  world;  and,  magnificent  as  is  her  now  culminating  power, 
and  imposing  the  reputation  and  achievements  of  her  statesmen,  literati  and  war- 
riors,  the  spectacle  is  marred  by  the  consideration  that  injustice  and  outrage  have 
contributed  to  place  her  on  the  lofty  eminence  which  she  occupies.  Arrogance 
and  oppression  have  every  where  marked  her  course.  No  barrier  that  force  or 
genius  could  overthrow,  has  been  permitted  to  stand  between  her  interests,  real 
or  imaginary,  and  the  rights  and  liberties  of  nations.  In  the  East,  province  after 
province  has  been  annexed  to  her  possessions,  and  even  the  Celestial  Empire  has 
lately  yielded  to  her  aggressions.  In  her  passion  for  aggrandizement  and  domi 
nion,  she  has  reared  an  empire  upon  which  the  sun  never  sets;  and  an  AMERICAN 
may  be  pardoned  some  complacency  in  the  reflection,  that  this  nation,  haughty, 
rapacious,  and  powerful  as  she  is,  received  her  first  material  check  from  the  hands 
of  the  Fathers  of  this  Republic. — ED. 

t  This  passage  is  in  an  article  in  the  Gazette  of  the  United  States  of  November 
10th,  1797,  signed  "A  Country  Subscriber,"  and  is  the  conclusion  of  a  slight  spar 
ring  with  Mr.  COBBETT,  which  gentleman,  by  the  bye,  has  given  a  notable  in- 


408 


REFLECTIONS. 


sentiment  was  then  in  me  an  original  conception,  I  had  never 
heard  it  before,  if  ever  it  had  been  uttered.  It  has  unceasingly 
been  among  my  strongest  convictions,  with  the  modification, 
that  she  is  now  our  protection  from  despotism  ;  and  it  is  there 
fore  natural,  that  I  should  be  gratified  by  the  very  able  and 
valuable  pamphlet  which  Mr.  Walsh  has  presented  to  his  coun 
try.*  It  is  to  be  wished  it  may  be  read  as  well  as  the  other 
writings  he  is  submitting  to  us,  \vith  candour  and  a  proper  feel 
ing  for  the  general  interest,  not  merely  of  this  nation,  but  of 
mankind.  In  contemplating  the  enormities  of  the  time,  it  is  re 
markable,  that  we  can  only  find  matter  for  illustration,  in  the 
poets  who  flourished  amid  the  confusions  which  prevailed  in  the 
decline  of  the  Roman  empire.  Thus,  Mr.  Walsh  has  frequent 
recourse  to  Claudian,  whose  poem  in  Rufinum  very  forcibly  de- 
stance  of  his  candour  in  his  Selections  from  Porcupine's  Gazette,  publishing 
herein  my  attack  and  his  answer  to  it,  but  wholly  suppressing  this  rejoinder. 

*  "A  Letter   on  the  Genius  and  Dispositions  of  the  French  Government,1 
published  in  1810. 

JEFFREY,  in  his  review  of  MR.  WALSH'S  "  Appeal  from  the  Judgments  of  Great 
Britain  respecting  the  United  States  of  America,"  mentions  this  pamphlet  in 
cordial  terms  of  praise, — he  styles  it  "  a  work  of  great  merit,  which  attracted 
much  notice,  both  in  Great  Britain  and  America."  *  *  *  "  The  author,  in  a 
strain  of  great  eloquence  and  powerful  reasoning,  exhorts  his  country  to  make 
common  cause  with  England  in  the  great  struggle  in  which  she  was  then  en 
gaged  with  the  giant  power  of  BONAPARTE,  and  points  out  the  many  circumstances 
in  the  character  and  condition  of  the  two  countries  that  invited  them  to  a  cordial 
alliance."  Within  two  years,  however,  after  the  publication  of  this  eloquent 
exhortation  to  an  " alliance"  the  overweening  insolence,  and  wanton  outrages  of 
England  upon  the  rights  of  American  citizens,  forced  the  country,  all  unprepared 
as  she  was,  into  the  MADISOXIAX  WAR  !  That  struggle  taught  our  haughty  and 
hereditary  foe,  that  she  could  not  always  expect  to  be  invincible,  and  the  recollec 
tion  of  its  early  disasters  and  subsequent  triumphs  will  nerve  the  American  heart 
for  future  trials,  if,  unhappily,  they  should  become  necessary  for  the  preservation 
of  the  national  integrity  and  honour;  and  for  the  advancement  of  the  principles 
which  are  identified  with  the  American  name.  The  question  concerning  OREGON 
—prematurely  agitated  by  the  party  President  of  the  day,  may  yet,  perchance, 
afford  cause  for  rupture,  leaving  still  unsettled  this  absorbing  question  of  the  times, 
and  serving  to  revive  the  slumbering  animosity  which  mutual  interests  have  al 
layed  but  not  eradicated.  For  the  honour  of  human  nature,  and  in  deference  to 
the  peaceful  spirit  and  tendencies  of  the  age,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  a  resort  to  bar 
barous  usage  in  the  settlement  of  this  great  dispute,  may  be  avoided  ;  but  the 
pretensions  of  England  are  put  forth  with  characteristic  disregard  of  justice  J 
and  these  pretensions  it  concerns  the  national  honour  strenuously  to  resist. — ED. 


REFLECTIONS.  409 

picts  the  dark  atrocities  of  a  ferocious  and  despotic  usurpation, 
which,  though  acted  on  an  infinitely  smaller  theatre  than  that  of 
the  present  day,  had  those  dismaying  appearances  which  so  over 
power  and  confound  the  mind,  as  to  perplex  it,  even  with  doubts 
of  an  overruling  Providence.* 

I  have  dipped  deeper  into  politics  than  I  intended,  or  conceived 
would  be  necessary  at  my  outset:  but  without  an  obvious  de 
parture  from  the  declared  design  of  my  work,  and  a  dereliction  of 
the  sacred  duty  which  every  annalist  owes  to  the  world,  the  sub 
ject,  however  trite  and  unpleasant,  could  not  be  avoided ;  and 
much  as  I  dwell  upon  it,  it  yet  forms  but  a  very  imperfect  sketch 
of  our  public  transactions.  It  has  relieved  me,  however,  from  a 
detail  of  my  own  personal  concerns,  which  being  made  up  of  the 
common  occurrences  of  still  life,  chequered  as  usual  with  good 
and  with  evil,  it  would  be  highly  arrogant  in  me  to  suppose  could 
be  in  any  degree  wrorthy  of  the  public  attention.  I  shall  only 
advert  to  them,  therefore,  for  the  single  purpose  of  mentioning, 
that  my  mother,  who  has  acted  no  inconsiderable  part  in  my  nar 
rative,  finished,  under  my  roof,  a  long  and  well  spent*  life,  pro 
tracted  to  her  seventy-eighth  year,  on  the  23d  of  January,  1807. 
Her  -excellent  constitution  sunk  under  the  republican  havoc  on  her 
family  :  her  first  symptom  of  decay  followed  close  upon  it ;  and 
she  fell  a  martyr,  in  all  probability,  to  the  ever  memorable  triumph 
of  what  has  been  impiously  called,  The  triumph  of  good  princi 
ples.  Perhaps,  however,  she  had  lived  long  enough. 

Of  the  part  I  have  acted  in  this  turbulent  scene,  the  reader  is 
truly  informed.  Whether  it  was  wise  or  unwise,  I  will  take  upon 
me  to  say,  it  was  conscientious  and  disinterested.  Yet  it  certainly 
makes  but  a  very  sorry  figure  at  an  era  so  distinguished  for  rapid 
acquisitions  of  fortune  and  dignity.  To  have  commanded  a  com 
pany  in  the  Continental  army  at  the  age  of  three  and  twenty,  and 
not  to  have  advanced  an  inch  in  the  glorious  career  of  personal 
aggrandizement,  makes  good,  I  think,  my  promise  of  negative 
instruction ;  and  I  must  be  as  very  a  wretch  in  the  eyes  of  the 

*  Thus  expressed  in  the  opening  of  the  poem; 

Soepe  niihi  dubiam  traxit  sentcntia  mentem 
Curarent  Supcri  terras,  an  nullus  inesset 
Rector,  et  incerto  fluerent  mortalia  casu. 


410 


REFLECTIONS. 


aspiring,  as  was  the  unambitious  Richard  Cromwell  in  those  of  the 
Prince  of  Conti — Why  even  the  imperial  Napoleon  himself  had 
scarcely  a  fairer  prospect,  when  making  his  debut  as  an  artillerist 
before  the  walls  of  Toulon. 

Then,  "  what  a  rogue  and  pleasant  slave  am  I !" 

Nevertheless,  with  respect  to  the  glory  acquired  by  what  may  be 
termed  civic  accomplishments,  I  have  some  ragged  pride  in  making 
it  known,  that  my  insignificance,  is  not  so  much  owing  to  an  ab 
solute  ignorance  of  the  game,  as  to  a  wrant  of  the  nerve  that  is 
necessary  for  playing  it  to  advantage.  Though  unambitious  of 
philosophic  fame,  I  have  no  desire  to  pass  for  a  simpleton ;  and 
therefore  wish  it  to  be  understood,  that  I  am  not  to  learn,  that  this 
revolution  business  and  republicanism,  with  whatever  purity  begun, 
has  nearly  issued  in  a  scramble,  in  which  all  morality  and  even 
decency  being  thrown  aside,  he  is  the  cleverest  fellow,  that,  by 
trick  or  violence  can  emerge  the  fullest  handed.  I  regret  that  I 
am  obliged  to  say  so.  I  would  much  rather  be  the  encomiast 
than  the  sa'tirist  of  my  country,  which  I  have  no  doubt  contains  so 
ample  a  portion  of  manly  -sentiment,  as,  under  better  auspices,  to 
entitle  it  to  a  lofty  strain  of  panegyric. 

But  it  will  be  said  I  am  a  party-man ;  and  as  all  party-men  are 
prejudiced,  these  censures  must  go  for  nothing.  I  am  indeed  a 
party-man,  as  I  conceive  there  is  a  right  and  wrong  in  politics  as 
in  other  things :  I  freely  admit  it  too  that  I  am  prejudiced,  to  a 
great  degree;  but  all  my  prejudices,  I  trust,  are  in  favour  of 
honesty  and  fair  dealing,  and  where  these  appear,  no  one  has 
more  toleration  for  error.  This  is  an  indulgence  I  may  have  need 
of  myself;  but  I  reflect  with  satisfaction,  that  among  my  faults, 
I  have  no  act  of  deceit,  injustice  or  oppression,  (for  I  have  some 
times  had  a  little  power)  to  reproach  myself  with ;  and  this  I  say 
without  fear  of  contradiction.  I  have  some  reliance  too  that  those 
who  know  me,  even  of  the  opposite  political  party,  will  give  me 
credit  for  general  good  intention,  and  openness  of  character ;  and 
this  granted,  I  ask  no  quarter  for  my  sentiments.  If  they  are 
erroneous  and  unfounded,  let  them  be  scouted  and  exposed ;  \ 


REFLECTIONS.  411 

shall  be  among  the  first  to  condemn  them  if  persuaded  of  their 
falsity. 

And  I  here  recognise  with  suitable  feelings,  the  liberal  and  un 
sought  patronage  to  this  undertaking,  from  many  of  my  neigh 
bours  and  townsmen,  with  whose  political  conduct  and  opinions, 
mine  have  generally  been  in  collision.  If  I  have  been  less  ac 
commodating  to  their  sentiments,  than  I  could  have  wished,  they 
will  read  my  apology  in  the  tenor  of  my  performance,  which  does 
not  merely  purport  to  speak  with  plainness,  but  manifests,  I  pre 
sume,  that  it  has  done  so  in  reality,  without  respect  to  parties  or 
to  persons.  I  have  occasionally,  I  am  sensible,  expressed  myself 
with  some  asperity ;  with  more,  perhaps,  than  may  be  thought 
congenial  to  the  nature  of  my  work ;  but  this  must  be  attributed 
to  my  awful  impression  of  the  dangers  which  surround  us,  and  a 
solemn  apprehension,  that  all  the  advantages  of  our  situation  are 
about  to  be  sacrificed  to  a  profligate  rage  for  place  and  party 
supremacy. 


412 


CONCLUSION. 


CONCLUSION. 

THUS,  uncalled  for,  have  I  ventured  upon  a  pretty  full  account, 
both  of  my  life,  and  my  opinions.  Of  the  value  of  either,  it  is  not 
for  me  to  judge  ;  but  as  it  was  my  lot  to  enter  upon  manhood 
just  at  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution,  and  to  be  a  witness 
of  its  progress,  its  consummation,  and  its  consequences,  it  ap 
peared  to  me,  that  the  period,  if  justly  delineated,  could  not  be 
altogether  destitute  of  instruction:  I  have  endeavoured  to  depict 
it  truly ;  and,  I  trust,  I  have  done  so,  in  regard  at  least  to  the 
phases  presented  to  my  vision.  The  facts  I  have  related,  I  have 
either  witnessed  myself,  or  received  on  such  authority,  as  leaves 
with  me  little  doubt  of  their  correctness ;  and  my  inferences, 
though  sometimes  harsh,  are  always  the  result  of  the  most 
deliberate  and  candid  reflection :  Whatever  therefore,  may  be 
the  .errors  of  my  book,  they  are  not  those  of  wilful  misrepre 
sentation. 


Ample*  matter  has  occurred,  since  the  publication  of  these 
MEMOIRS,  not  only  to  justify  the  free  remarks  therein  made  on 
the  conduct  and  character  of  our  democratic  leaders,  but  to  war> 
rant  shafts  of  moral  indignation  agairist  their  subsequent  acts, 
keen  as  were  ever  hurled  from  the  pen  of  a  Juvenal.  But, 
politics  are  at  no  time  a  pleasant  topic,  and  their  discussion 
must  necessarily  embrace  newspaper  common-places  a  hundred 

*  The  observations  that  follow  were  found  in  the  handwriting  of  the  author 
upon  the  last  page  of  his  private  copy  of  the  "  MEMOIRS."  It  is  proper  that  they 
should  be  added  here,  as  they  arc  explanatory  of  his  motives,  and,  were  no  doubt, 
intended  for  the  position  in  which  they  are  now  placed. — ED. 


CONCLUSION.  413 

times  repeated.  For  these  reasons,  and  the  additional  one,  that 
the  registry  of  recent  facts,  is  not  the  object  of  the  writer,  he 
spares  himself  the  disagreeable  task  of  tracing  the  undignified, 
pettifogging,  mischievous  course  of  the  Madisonian  policy.  He 
cannot  but  felicitate  himself,  however,  upon  his  good  fortune  in 
meeting  with  the  letters  of  General  WASHINGTON*  serving  as 
they' do,  to  confirm  many  of  his  statements  which  were  received 
with  more  than  distrust, f  perhaps,  and  thought  to  proceed  either 
from  a  misanthropic  temper,  too  hasty  observation,  or  specu 
lative  notions  of  human  virtue,  graduated  on  too  high  a  scale, 
and  thence  engendering  a  disposition  to  censure  unnecessarily. 
As  to  his  political  opinions  and  remarks,  he  will  only  say  in  an 
ticipation  of  comments,  which  may  probably  be  made,  that  how 
ever  shocking  they  may  be  to  many  honest,  well-meaning,  re 
publicans,  and  however  they  may  tinge  with  diabolical  gall,  the 
pancreatic  juices  of  that  other  description  of  patriots,  which  no 
term  can  aptly  designate  but  that  of  Jacobins,  he  feels  pride  no 
less  than  confidence  in  avowing  them.  Whatever  may  be  their 
reception  at  the  present  day,  he  has  not  the  smallest  doubt  of 
their  entire  orthodoxy  in  time  to  come,  when  the  general  in 
terests  of  mankind,  not  those  of  a  party,  when  history,  not  fac 
tion,  shall  decide. 

"  With  respect  to  the  freedom  taken  with  private  characters, 
it  was  at  one  time  my  intention,  from  knowing  it  to  be  the  de 
sire  of  some  of  my  best  friends,  to  expunge  such  passages  as 
might,  in  any  degree,  give  pain  to  the  descendants  or  connexions 
of  the  persons  mentioned.  But,  on  reflecting  that  each  of  these 
friends  would  be  as  tenacious  in  retaining  some,  as  in  suppress 
ing  others  of  the  passages;  that  by  suppressing  them  all,  I  should 
reduce  the  work  to  a  miserable  piece  of  baldness  and  stupidity, 
and  that  by  diminishing,  I  should,  in  regard  to  those  who  were 
suffered  to.  remain,  evince  a  premeditation  that  would  afford 
new  cause  of  offence, — that,  moreover,  as  I  have  not  presumed 
to  meddle  with  what  constitutes  the  real  value  of  character,  but, 
have  merely  glanced,  at  singularities  and  deficiencies  of  the 

*  Since  included  in  the  Writings  of  WASHINGTON,  edited  by  Mr.  SPARKS. — ED. 
t  In  1811,  upon  the  first  publication  of  the  MEMOIRS. — ED. 

35* 


414  CONCLUSION. 

lighter  kind,  neither  inconsistent  with  uprightness  nor  benevo 
lence,  and  that  in  these  respects,  I  have  made  as  free  with  my 
own  family  as  that  of  others,  I  have,  at  length,  come  to  the 
conclusion,  that  it  will  be  best  and  most  discreet,  to  abide  by 
my  first  indiscretion. 

"  It  is  unnecessary  to  pursue  the  topic ;  but  a  curious  discus 
sion  of  it  may  be  found  in  a  discourse  of  M.  Boileau  prefixed 
to  his  satires,  in  which  he  undertakes  to  justify  his  own  freedom 
by  the  examples  of  the  ancients,  particularly  of  Horace  and  of 
Persius;  from  whom,  to  be  sure,  he  gives  instances,  that  would, 
by  no  means,  comport  with  the  correctness  of  modern  manners. 
It  would  appear,  however,  that  somewhat  of  this  questionable 
license  is  essential  to  the  relish  of  that  description  of  composi 
tion,  termed  MEMOIRS.     £  To  entertain  readers,'  says  Dr.  Zim 
merman,  l  is,  in  my  opinion,  only  to  deliver  freely  in  writing, 
that  which  in  the  general  intercourse  of  society,  it  is  impossible 
to   say  either  with  safety  or  politeness.'     May  it  not   be   this, 
which  renders  so  agreeable,  the  apparently  unimportant  garru 
lity  of  Montaigne  ?     Upon  the  whole,  if  he  has  sometimes  been 
querulous,  it  has  been  through  the  fear  of  trusting  himself  to  the 
vehemence  of  his  feelings,  which  is  apt  to  hurry  him  beyond 
bounds,  when  he  sees  turpitude  triumphant.     He  is  not  formed 
for  a  miserable,  passive,  victim  of  injustice,  however  gilded  by 
high  authority;  and  no  man,  however  exalted  his  station,  has  yet 
presumed,  or  ever  shall  presume,  to  treat  him  as  such,  without 
feeling  his  resistance,  and  the  keenest  shafts  of  his  resentment." 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX. 


417 


APPENDIX. 

A. 

PAGE  23.— Note. 
ALEXANDER  GRAYDON,  ESQ. 

The  following  is  copied  from  papers  filed  in  the  office  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  : 

ALEXANDER  GRAYDON  RECOMMENDED  TO  BE  A  FIELD-OFFICER  ON 

A  LIST  OF  RECOMMENDATIONS. 

ALEXANDER  GRAYDON  TO  RICHARD  PETERS. 

April  30th,  1758. 
DEAR  SIR — 

I  yesterday  received  a  letter  from  Richard  Walker,  Esq.* 
dated,  the  27th  inst.  in  which  he  informs  me,  that  he  has  been 
prevailed  on  to  enter  his  name  in  the  list  of  officers,  to  command 
the  new  corps  for  this  province,  and  that  he  has  ventured  to  set 
my  name  down  also,  conjuring  me  at  the  same  time,  in  a  very 
friendly  and  affectionate  manner,  not  to  decline  the  service  at 
this  time.  He  farther  desires  I  would  communicate  my  answer 
to  you  without  delay. 

I  have  a  very  great  esteem  for  Mr.  Walker,  and  believe  he 
will  make  an  excellent  officer.  I  am  sure,  that  he  will  act  upon 
principles  that  few  soldiers  do.  I  sincerely  wish  I  could  ac 
company  him.  I  have  employed  the  few  hours  between  the 
receipt  of  his  letter,  and  my  present  writing,  in  balancing  the 
matter  within  iny  breast,  and  considering  the  position  in  which 
I  find  myself  as  to  my  affairs  here,  and  the  occasion  so  pressing, 

*  This  Mr.  Walker  is  marked  on  the  list  as  having  been  recommended  by  Mr. 
Allen  and  Mr.  Growdon. 


418 


APPENDIX. 


it  would  be  impossible  to  put  my  affairs  in  order,  to  accept  such 
an  employment.  I  have  come,  therefore,  to  the  result,  not  to 
stand  in  the  way  of  better  men. 

I  was  surprised  never  to  have  had  the  least  intimation,  from 
any  of  my  friends,  before  Mr.  Walker's  letter,  of  there  being  any 
thoughts  entertained  of  me.  I  have  never  been  able  to  learn  what 
officers  are  intended  to  be  made ;  into  what  order  the  troops  are  to 
be  disposed ;  or  in  short,  any  measures  about  this  whole  matter. 
Perhaps  there  was  reason  for  keeping  all  secret.  But  I  am  of 
opinion,  that  had  all  the  measures  relative  to  raising  these  troops, 
been  properly  planned  and  published,  as  in  some  of  our  neigh 
bouring  provinces  has  been  the  case,  the  service  would  have 
been  greatly  forwarded.  But  I  write  to  you  as  a  friend,  not  a 
secretary.  In  short,  there  is  little  encouragement  for  any  to 
enter  into  the  service  of  this  province,  unless  they  can  support 
themselves  with  the  reflection,  that  virtue  is  its  own  reward. 
I  am,  dear  sir, 

your  affectionate  friend,  and 
humble  servant 

ALEXANDER  GRAYDON. 


B. 

PAGE  42. 

DR.  LAUCHLAN  MACLEANE, 

A  name,  which,  from  its  subsequent  association  with  the  ques 
tion  of  the  authorship  of  JUNIUS,  has  acquired  considerable  pos 
thumous,  celebrity.  PRIOR,  in  his  excellent  Life  of  GOLDSMITH, 
published  in  1837,  thus  writes  in  reference  to  Dr.  Macleane : 

"  A  fellow  student  named  Kennedy,  under  the  plea  of  great 
distress  and  a  pledge  of  the  speedy  arrival  of  his  own  remit 
tances,  persuaded  Goldsmith  to  become  answerable  for  a  portion 
of  his  debts,  which,  however,  failed  to  be  discharged  at  the 


APPENDIX.  419 

specified  time  promised  by  the  debtor.  Goldsmith  was,  in  con 
sequence,  called  upon  for  payment,  but  being  unable  to  raise 
the  amount,  was,  in  turn,  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  the  assist 
ance  of  two  fellow-students  to  escape  a  dilemma  that  threatened 
his  personal  liberty.  These  were  men  of  considerable  attain 
ments,  and  not  undistinguished  in  their  respective  spheres  of  life. 
One  was  Dr.  Joseph  Fenn  Sleigh,  an  amiable  and  intelligent 
Quaker,  the  school-fellow  of  Burke,  at  Ballitoro,  the  first  friend  of 
Barry  the  painter,  and  who  died  prematurely  in  1771,  an  eminent 
physician  in  Cork.  The  other  was  Dr.  Lauchlan  Macleane,  a 
former  associate  in  Trinity  College,  whose  career  seems  to  have 
embraced  many  changes  of  scene,  and  who  afterwards  by  the 
public  situations  he  held,  the  pamphlets  he  wrote,  a  challenge 
sent  to  Wilkes  and  not  accepted,  and  the  party  with  which  he 
was  connected,  drew  considerable  notice  in  the  political  circles 
of  London  between  the  years  1765  and  1776. 

"  The  son  of  a  gentleman  of  small  fortune  in  the  North  of  Ire 
land,  and  born  about  the  year  1728,  he  was  transferred,  at  the 
age  of  eighteen,  from  a  school  near  Belfast,  to  Trinity  College, 
Dublin.  Here  he  became  known  to  Burke  and  Goldsmith,  and 
proceeding  to  Edinburgh  to  study  physic,  his  name  appears  in 
the  list  of  the  Medical  Society,  January  4th,  1754,  a  year  after 
that  of  Goldsmith,  by  whom  he  was  introduced.  He  afterwards 
visited  America — whether  at  first  as  a  private  practitioner,  or 
medical  officer  in  the  army,  does  not  appear;  probably,  as  was 
then  not  unusual,  officiating  in  both  capacities.  While  in  this 
country  he  acquired  great  medical  reputation;  followed  by  its 
common  attendant,  envy,  from  the  less  fortunate  of  his  brethren; 
and  an  anecdote  is  told  of  him  at  this  time,  which  Almon  quotes 
in  one  of  his  publications,  as  an  instance  of  what  he  terms  '  true 
magnanimity.'  A  rival  practitioner,  extremely  jealous  of  his 
success,  and  who  had  adopted  every  means,  not  excepting  the 
most  unfair,  of  injuring  his  credit,  was,  at  length,  afflicted  by  the 
dangerous  illness  of  an  only  son;  and  as  possessing  the  first  cha 
racter  for  professional  skill,  Dr.  Macleane  was  solicited  to  attend. 
His  zeal  proved  unremitting;  he  sat  up  with  the  patient  many 
nights,  and  chiefly  by  his  sagacity  and  indefatigable  efforts  suc 
ceeded  beyond  expectation  in  restoring  the  young  man  to  health  ; 


420  APPENDIX. 

refusing  all  consideration  for  his  labours,  and  saying  to  his  friends, 
'  Now  am  I  amply  revenged.' 

"In  1761,  while  surgeon  of  Otway's  regiment,  quartered  at 
Philadelphia,  a  quarrel  took  place  with  the  Governor,  against 
whom  Macleane,  who  was  a  man  of  superior  talents,  wrote  a 
paper  distinguished  for  ability  and  severity,  which  drew  general 
attention.  Colonel  Barre,  subsequently  so  well  known  in  poli 
tical  life,  then  serving  there  with  his  regiment  and  who  was  pro 
bably  involved  in  the  quarrel,  is  said  to  have  formed  a  regard 
for  him  in  consequence  of  the  part  he  took;  but  it  is  more  likely 
that  a  previous  acquaintance  existed,  as  the  Colonel  had  been 
likewise  a  member  of  Trinity  College.  Under  the  patronage  of 
this  officer  he  returned  to  England,  renewed  his  acquaintance 
with  Burke,  and  procured  an  office  under  government.  While 
travelling  on  the  continent,  in  1766,  he  proved  useful  to  Barry, 
then  on  his  way  to  Italy,  who  became  known  to  him  through  the- 
introduction  of  his  first  patrons,  Burke  and  Dr.  Sleigh.  Soon 
afterwards  he  became  successively  private  Secretary  to  Lord 
Shelburne,  and  under  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Southern  Depart 
ment,  retiring  from  office  with  his  patron  on  the  dissolution  of 
the  ministry  drawn  together  by  the  Duke  of  Grafton.  In  May, 
1771,  Lord  North  gave  him  the  situation  of  superintendent  of 
lazarettos,  with,  as  the  newspapers  of  the  day  state,  'a  salary  of 
-£1000  a  year,  and — two  pounds  per  diem  travelling  expenses.' 
In  January  following,  he  received  the  collectorship  of  Philadel 
phia  ;  this  was  soon  exchanged  for  an  appointment  in  India, 
where  he  subsequently  became  a  kind  of  agent  to  Mr.  Hastings. 
In  that  capacity  he  brought  home  the  Governor  General's  condi 
tional  resignation  of  office ;  yet  the  latter,  with  that  singularity 
which  often  influenced  his  proceedings  in  the  government  of 
India,  took  a  speedy  opportunity  of  disavowing  both  his  agent 
and  his  act,  although  communicated  to  the  Court  of  Directors  in 
his  own  handwriting.  In  proceeding  again  to  India,  intending, 
it  is  said,  to  take  strong  measures  for  an  explanation  of  beha 
viour  that  seemed  to  throw  censure  upon  his  honesty  or  honour, 
the  ship,  in  which  he  embarked,  foundered,  and  all  on  board 
perished,  with  papers  seriously  criminatory,  according  to  report, 
of  the  administration  of  Mr.  Hastings.  Dr.  Macleane  enjoyed 


APPENDIX.  421 

the  credit  of  being  quick,  clear-headed,  and  well  informed  ;  and 
by  some  was  considered  as  possessing  '  wonderful  powers ;'  an 
impediment  in  speech  precluded  him  from  being  useful  in  Par 
liament,  or  shining  in  conversation.  His  private  character  for 
benevolence  and  several  good  qualities  stood  high  in  the  opinion 
of  his  friends." 

His  claim  to  the  credit  of  the  authorship  of  JUNIUS  is  not 
treated  with  much  respect  by  Mr.  Prior,  who  proves,  to  his  own 
satisfaction  at  least,  that  they  have  no  real  foundation ;  but  his 
reasoning  is  far  from  conclusive.  It  is  difficult,  in  this  age  of 
free  and  bold  discussion,  to  appreciate  either  the  depth  of  the 
excitement  caused  by  the  publication  of  these  celebrated  "  Let 
ters,"  'or  the  danger  to  which  discovery  would  have  exposed 
their  author,  who  was  seldom  free  from  apprehension.  Every 
artifice,  therefore,  that  would  serve  to  divert  attention  from  their 
real  author  would,  naturally,  be  adopted  by  him,  and  the  simple 
expedient  of  including  himself  in  a  general  censure,  or  even  the 
employment  of  the  language  of  praise — would  have  been  per 
fectly  justifiable  in  view  of  the  peculiar  circumstances  under 
which  he  wrote.  Recent  alleged  discoveries  have  again  con 
nected  Dr.  Macleane's  name  with  the  authorship  of  Junius — a 
secret  too  long  and  mysteriously  kept  to  admit  a  hope  of  its 
revelation. — ED. 


C. 

PAGE  75. 

WARREN. 
BATTLE  OF  BUNKER'S  HILL. 

The  author,  in  a  MS.  note,  says,  "  Hand  it  should  be.     I 

wrote  from  recollection  not  having  the  print  before  me.     He  has 

a  sword,  indeed,  in  one  hand,  but  not  in  that  employed  in  the 

humane  act.     But,  if  General  Heath  is  correct,  the  whole  per- 

36 


422  APPENDIX. 

haps,  is  but  a  fiction  of  the  painter.  Heath  says  that  Warren 
was  killed  merely  as  a  spectator,  at  some  distance  from  the  com 
batants." 

The  scene,  as  represented  by  the  picture  of  Trumbull,  is  un 
doubtedly  a  poetical  license.  No  such  occurrence  as  is  there 
described  really  occurred.  Neither  is  Heath  correct  in  his  state 
ment  of  the  circumstances  of  Warren's  death.  General  Henry 
Lee,  in  his  Memoirs,  has  also  fallen  into  several  errors  in  regard 
to  the  same  event,  although  with  a  nearer  approximation  to 
truth  than  Heath  or  several  others  who  have  written  upon  the 
subject.  He  gives,  it  is  true,  just  credit  to  the  gallant  Prescott. 
He  says,  "  Warren  who  fell  nobly  supporting  the  action,  was  the 
favourite  of  the  day,  and  has  engrossed  the  fame  due  to  Prescott. 
Bunker's  Hill  too  has  been  considered  as  the  field  of  battle,  when 
it  is  well  known  that  it  was  fought  upon  Breed's  Hill,  the  nearest 
of  the  two  hills  to  Boston."  "  No  man,"  he  continues,  "reveres 
the  character  of  Warren  more  than  the  writer;  and  he  considers 
himself  not  only  doing  justice  to  Colonel  Prescott,  but  perform 
ing  an  acceptable  service  to  the  memory  of  Warren,  who,  being 
a  really  great  man,  would  disdain  to  wear  laurels  not  his  own." 

The  editor  of  this  volume  is  fortunate  in  having  in  his  posses 
sion,  authentic  and  interesting  data  in  relation  to  the  "  Battle  of 
Bunker's  Hill,"  and  though  the  information  may,  by  some,  be 
deemed  misplaced  here,  he  will,  nevertheless,  risk  the  censure 
of  the  critics.  The  text  affords  an  opportunity  for  its  introduc 
tion — and  TRUTH,  wherever  she  may  alight,  should  be  welcomed 
and  cherished. 

To  a  MS.  of  his  friend,  the  late  estimable  and  Reverend  Ed 
ward  G.  Prescott,  a  grandson  of  Colonel  Prescott  of  Pepperell, 
Massachusetts,  commander  of  the  American  forces,  on  the  occa 
sion  of  the  memorable  battle,  the  editor  is  indebted  for  the  fol 
lowing  particulars  which  he  has  abridged  to  the  limits  prescribed 
to  a  note,  the  interesting  facts  set  forth  rendering  an  apology  for 
its  length  unnecessary. 

On  the  16th  of  June,  1775,  Colonel  William  Prescott,  of  Pep 
perell,  at  his  own  especial  request,  received  orders  to  march  to 
Charlestown  in  the  evening,  having  under  his  command  his  own 
regiment,  that  of  Colonels  Bridge  and  Frye,  and  one  hundred  and 


APPENDIX. 


423 


twenty  men  from  the  Connecticut  regiment,  together  with  Cap 
tain  Gridley's  company  of  artillery,  and  two  field  pieces.  The 
object  of  this  expedition  which  was  to  possess  and  fortify  Bun 
ker's  Hill,  was  to  be  kept  profoundly  secret — one  day's  provision 
was  distributed  among  the  troops,  and  sufficient  'supplies,  both 
of  refreshments  and  men,  were  promised  him,  to  be  sent  in  the 
morning.  The  whole  number  of  men  under  his  command, 
amounted  to  about  one  thousand.  Early  on  the  evening  of  the 
memorable  16th  of  June,  these  few  forces  under  the  command 
of  Prescott,  assembled  on  the  common  at  Cambridge,  where  a 
blessing  upon  their  expedition  was  devoutly  asked  by  the  Re 
verend  President  Langdon,  of  Harvard  College.  At  the  con 
clusion  of  these  services,  Colonel  Prescott  led  the  way  towards 
Charlestown  neck,  preceded  by  two  sergeants  having  dark  lan 
terns  open  only  at  the  rear.  He  was  accompanied  by  Colonel 
Gridley,  the  Chief  Engineer,  who  was  to  lay  out  the  ground — by 
the  late  Governor  Brooks,  who  was,  at  that  time,  a  Major  in 
Bridge's  regiment,  and  by  Mr.  Winthrop.  Upon  their  arrival, 
great  doubt  arose  as  to  which  part  of  the  heights  it  was  expedient 
to  fortify.  It  has  often  been  asserted  that  Breed's  Hill  was  se 
lected  through  mistake — such  was  not  the  case.  Both  that  and 
Bunker's  Hill  form  a  continuous  chain,  but,  at  that  time,  the 
name  of  Bunker  was  the  only  one  given  to  any  part  of  the  Jieight. 
The  remainder  of  it  might,  therefore,  properly  enough,  have 
been  considered  as  included  in  the  orders  under  that  general 
title.  At  all  events,  according  to  the  statements  of  Colonel 
Prescott,  and  of  Governor  Brooks,  a  council  was  called  of  the 
officers,  and  the  subject  discussed  until  very  late  in  the  night. 

It  was  by  them. determined,  that  the  hill  wow  known  as  Breed's, 
but  then  having  no  separate  name,  was  the  most  suitable  for  the 
purpose,  and  came  within  the  orders  given  to  Colonel  Prescott. 
The  reasons  for  this  opinion,  were  sufficiently  evident.  Bunker's 
height  was  too  far  from  the  enemy  to  annoy  their  shipping,  or  to 
give  our  forces  any  advantage  over  their  army,  while  the  point 
selected,  was  admirably  adapted  for  both  purposes.  Colonel 
Prescott,  accompanied  by  Major  Brooks  twice  went  down  to  the 
sea  shore  to  reconnoitre.  They  could  not  believe  that  they  were 
at  the  very  gates  of  the  enemy's  stronghold,  and  had  not  been 


424  APPENDIX. 

perceived.  It  was,  however,  so.  God  had  darkened  their  eyes, 
and  they  heard  the  British  seniry  on  his  rounds,  uttering  the  de 
ceitful  hail,  "  all's  well !"  Morning,  however,  drew  near.  The 
English  man  of  war,  called  the  Lively,  first  discovered  our  little 
band,  and  opened  upon  them  volley  after  volley.  The  enemy 
were  taken  by  surprise.  High  above  them,  they  saw  our  forti 
fications,  commanding  them  in  all  their  positions,  and  could 
scarcely  credit  their  own  senses,  that  so  daring  an  exploit  had 
been  undertaken.  General  Gage  summoned  his  officers  to  a 
council  of  war.  All  was  commotion.  The  frigates,  floating 
batteries, — the  cannon  and  mortars  on  Copp's  hill,  were  each 
aiming  at  our  gallant  countrymen — still  they  toiled  on.  There 
was  but  one  moment  of  doubt,  during  the  time  they  occu 
pied  that  proud  position.  This  was  when  the  first  man  was 
killed.  A  private  of  the  name  of  POLLARD  from  Billerica  was 
the  first  martyr ;  he  had  ventured  in  front  of  the  works,  and  was 
struck  down  by  a  cannon-shot.  Our  countrymen,  unused  to  the 
sight  of  violent  deaths,  then  hesitated.  Colonel  Prescott  ordered 
his  burial  at  once.  The  men,  headed  by  the  chaplain,  demanded 
that  prayers  should  be  said  over  him.  They  were  ordered  by 
the  Colonel  to  disperse  to  their  work,  and  to  bury  him  immedi 
ately — it  was  done,  but  some  of  the  men  left  the  hill,  and  did  not 
again  return  to  it.  This  circumstance  depressed  them  at  a  time 
when  all  their  energies  were  most  needed.  Their  commander 
perceiving  it,  mounted  the  breast-works,  and  continued  there  in 
defiance  of  the  shot  of  the  enemy,  giving  the  necessary  directions, 
until  again  their  usual  spirits  had  returned  to  them. 

Meanwhile  the  British  were  not  idle.     Gage,  with  his  officers 

o      ' 

and  others  in  whom  he  had  confidence,  went  up  to  Beacon  Hill 
to  reconnoitre;  after  having  looked  through  his  telescope  for 
some  time,  he  handed  it  to  a  Mr.  Willard,  a  mandamus  coun 
sellor,  and  describing  the  leader  of  the  American  troops  as  head 
and  shoulders  above  the  works,  asked  him  who  it  was,  and  if 
the  rebels  would  fight.  Willard  told  him,  that  it  was  his  brother- 
in-law,  PRESCOTT;  "  as  to  his  men,"  said  he,  "  I  cannot  answer 
for  them  ;  but  Colonel  Prescott  will  fight  you  to  tJie  gates  of  Hell!" 
The  regiments  were  intrusted  to  Colonel  Prescott,  and  the  orders 
were  transmitted  to  him  alone.  Upon  him  rested  the  responsi- 


APPENDIX.  425 

bility ;  and  that  he  had  the  chief  command,  was  acknowledged 
on  the  field  by  General  Warren,  the  President  of  the  Provincial 
Congress  of  Massachusetts;  who  took  a  gun  and  cartouch  box, 
and  told  him  that  he  had  "  come  to  learn  service  under  a  soldier 
of  experience."  Alas!  that  the  lesson  should  have  been  so  short! 
Gallant,  eloquent,  patriotic  Warren  stepped  but  on  the  field  of 
battle,  to  be  gathered  into  the  harvest  of  Death !  Not  obliged 
to  be  in  the  way  of  danger,  he  volunteered  for  the  good  of  his 
country— and  that  country  will  never  cease  to  repay  him  by  a 
cherished  recollection  of  his  virtues,  and  an  honest  pride  at  the 
mention  of  his  name! — ED. 


D. 

PAGE  77. 

JOHN  HANCOCK. 

A  few  years  later  than  the  period  referred  to  by  our  author, 
Hancock  is  thus  described  by  SULLIVAN,  in  his  interesting  and 
instructive  "  Familiar  Letters  on  Public  Characters :" 

"  He  will  be  considered  in  the  history  of  our  country,  as 
one  of  the  greatest  men  of  his  age.  How  true  this  may  be, 
distant  generations  are  not  likely  to  know.  He  was  the  son  of 
a  clergyman  in  Braintree,  and  was  educated  at  Harvard  Col 
lege,  and  inherited  a  very  ample  fortune  from  his  childless 
uncle.  Hancock  left  no  child.  He  had  a  son  who  died  at  an 
early  age  from  an  unfortunate  accident.  Hancock  was  sent  as 
a  delegate  to  Congress  in  1774;  and  in  consequence  of  his  per 
sonal  deportment,  and  his  fame  as  a  patriot,  he  was  elevated, 
in  an  assembly  of  eminent  men,  to  the  dignity  of  President, 
which  office  he  held  when  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
was  signed,  at  which  time  he  was  only  thirty-nine  years  of  age. 

"  In  June,  1782,  Hancock  had  the  appearance  of  advanced 
age,  though  only  forty-five.  He  had  been  repeatedly  and  se- 

36* 


426  APPENDIX. 

verely  afflicted  with  the  gout,  a  disease  much  more  common  in 
those  days  than  it  now  is,  while  dyspepsia,  if  it  existed  at  all. 
was  not  known  by  that  name.  As  recollected,  at  this  time, 
Mr.  Hancock  was  nearly  six  feet  in  stature,  and  of  slender 
person,  stooping  a  little,  and  apparently  enfeebled  by  disease. 
His  manners  were  very  gracious,  of  the  old  style  of  dignified 
complaisance.  His  face  had  been  very  handsome.  Dress  was 
adapted  quite  as  much  to  be  ornamental  as  useful.  Gentlemen 
wore  wigs  when  abroad,  and,  commonly,  caps,  when  at  home. 
At  this  time,  (June,  1782,)  about  noon,  Hancock  was  dressed  in 
a  red  velvet  cap,  within  which  was  one  of  fine  linen.  The 
latter  was  turned  up  over  the  lower  edge  of  the  velvet  one, 
two  or  three  inches.  He  wore  a  blue  damask  gown,  lined 
with  silk ;  a  white  stock,  a  white  satin  embroidered  waistcoat, 
black  satin  small-clothes,  white  silk  stockings,  and  red  morocco 
slippers.  It  was  a  general  practice  in  genteel  families,  to  have 
a  tankard  of  punch  made  in  the  morning,  and  placed  in  a 
cooler  when  the  season  required  it.  Visiters  were  invited  to 
partake  of  it.  At  this  visit,  Hancock  took  from  the  cooler, 
standing  on  the  hearth,  a  full  tankard,  and  drank  first  himself, 
and  then  offered  it  to  those  present.  Hancock  was  hospitable. 
There  might  have  been  seen  at  his  table,  all  classes,  from  grave 
and  dignified  clergymen,  down  to  the  gifted  in  song,  narration, 
anecdote,  and  wit,  with  whom  '  noiseless  falls  the  foot  of  Time, 
that  only  treads  on  flowers.'  There  are  more  books,  more 
reading,  more  thinking,  and  more  interchange  of  thoughts  de 
rived  from  books  and  conversation  at  present,  than  there  were 
fifty  years  ago.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  society  is  wiser  and 
happier  than  it  was,  from  being  better  instructed.  Some  per 
sons  may  be  of  opinion,  that  if  social  intercourse  is  on  a  better 
footing  now,  than  formerly,  it  is  less  interesting,  less  cordial 
than  heretofore.  It  is  not  improbable  that  increase  of  numbers 
and  of  wealth,  tend  to  make  the  members  of  society  more  sel 
fish  ;  and  to  stifle  expansive  and  generous  feelings.  Modes  of 
life  run  into  matters  of  show  and  ornament;  and  it  becomes  a 
serious  occupation,  to  be  able  to  compare  condition  on  advan 
tageous  terms. 

"  Though  Hancock  was  very  wealthy,  he  was  too  much  oc- 


APPENDIX.  427 

cupied  with  public  affairs  to  be  advantageously  attentive  to  his 
private.  The  times  in  which  he  lived,  and  the  distinguished 
agency  which  fell  to  his  lot,  from  his  sincere  and  ardent  devotion 
to  the  patriot  cause,  engendered  a  strong  self-regard.  He  was 
said  to  be  somewhat  sensitive,  easily  offended,  and  very  uneasy 
in  the  absence  of  the  high  consideration  which  he  claimed,  rather 
as  a  right,  than  a  courtesy.  He  had  strong  personal  friends, 
and  equally  strong  personal  enemies.  From  such  causes  arose 
some  irritating  difficulties.  He  had  not  only  a  commanding 
deportment,  which  he  could  qualify  with  a  most  attractive 
amenity,  but  a  fine  voice,  and  a  highly  graceful  manner.  These 
were  traits  which  distinguished  him  from  most  men,  and  quali 
fied  him  to  preside  in  popular  assemblies,  with  great  dignity. 
He  was  not  supposed  to  be  a  man  of  great  intellectual  force 
by  nature  ;  and  his  early  engagements  in  political  life,  and  as  the 
scenes  in  which  he  was  conversant,  called  for  the  exercise  of 
his  powers  only  in  the  public  service,  he  was  so  placed  as  not 
to  have  had  occasion  to  display  the  force  of  his  mind,  in  that 
service,  so  as  to  enable  those  of  the  present  day  to  judge  of  it, 
excepting  in  his  communications,  as  Governor  of  Massachusetts, 
to  the  Legislature. 

"  If  history  has  any  proper  concern  with  the  individual 
qualities  of  Hancock,  it  may  be  doubtful  whether,  in  these  re 
spects,  distant  generations  will  know  exactly  what  manner  of 
man  he  was.  But,  as  a  public  man,  his  country  is  greatly  in 
debted  to  him.  He  was  most  faithfully  devoted  to  her  cause,  and 
it  is  a  high  eulogy  on  his  patriotism,  that  when  the  British 
Government  offered  pardon  to  all  the  rebels,  for  all  their 
offences,  Hancock  and  Samuel  Adams  were  the  only  persons 
to  whom  this  grace  was  denied." — ED. 


428  APPENDIX. 


E. 

PAGE  99. 

REVEREND  JACOB  DUCHE. 

Extract  from  a  letter  from  General  Washington  to  the  Presi 
dent  of  Congress,  dated  16th  October,  1777:— 

"  I  yesterday,  through  the  hands  of  Mrs.  Ferguson,  of 
Graham  Park,  received  a  letter  of  a  very  curious  and  extraor 
dinary  nature  from  Mr.  Duche,  which  I  have  thought  proper  to 
transmit  to  Congress.  To  this  ridiculous,  illiberal  performance, 
I  made  a  short  reply,  by  desiring  the  bearer  of  it,  if  she  should, 
hereafter,  by  any  accident,  meet  with  Mr.  Duche,  to  tell  him  I 
should  have  returned  it  unopened,  if  I  had  had  any  idea  of  the 
contents ;  observing  at  the  same  time,  that  I  highly  disapproved 
the  intercourse  she  seemed  to  have  been  carrying  on,  and 
expected  it  would  be  discontinued.  Notwithstanding  the 
author's  assertion,  I  cannot  but  suspect  that  the  measure  did  not 
originate  with  him ;  and  that  he  was  induced  to  it  by  the  hope 
of  establishing  his  interest  and  peace  more  effectually  with  the 
enemy." 

"  Mr.  DUCHE  had  married  a  sister  of  Mr.  Francis  Hopkinson, 
one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  wrho, 
when  Duchy's  letter  was  written,  was  at  Bordentown,  as  a 
member  of  the  Continental  Navy  Board.  A  copy  was  for 
warded  to  Mr.  Hopkinson,  and  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  Duche 
on  the  subject,  which  he  enclosed  to  General  Washington,  that 
it  might  be  transmitted  to  him  in  Philadelphia  through  the 
regular  conveyance  of  a  flag."* 

*  Sparks'  Life  and  Writings  of  Washington. — ED. 


APPENDIX.  429 

The  Editor  of  these  Memoirs  is  indebted  to  a  friend  for  a 
MS.  copy  of  the  celebrated  letter  of  the  Reverend  Mr.  Duche 
to  General  Washington,  with  corrections  to  conform  to  the 
copy  revised  and  published  .by  Mr.  Duche  himself,  in  the  Penn 
sylvania  Ledger  of  the  17th  December,  1777.  It  is  as  follows: 

MR.  DUCHE  TO  GENERAL  WASHINGTON. 

"Philadelphia,  October  8,  1777. 
"  SIR, 

"  If  this  letter  should  find  you  in  council  or  in  the  field,  before 
you  read  another  sentence,  I  beg  you  to  take  the  first  oppor 
tunity  of  retiring,  and  weighing  well  its  important  contents. 

"  You  are  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  part  I  have  taken  in 
the  present  unhappy  contest.  I  was  indeed  among  the  first  to 
bear  my  public  testimony  against  having  any  recourse  to  threats, 
or  even  indulging  a  thought  of  an  armed  opposition.  The  torrent 
soon  became  too  strong  for  my  feeble  efforts  to  resist.  I  wished 
to  follow  my  countrymen,  as  far  only,  as  virtue  and  the 
righteousness  of  their  cause  would  permit  me.  I  was,  however, 
prevailed  upon,  among  the  rest  of  my  clerical  brethren,  to  gratify 
the  pressing  desire  of  my  fellow-citizens,  by  preaching  a  sermon 
to  one  of  the  city  battalions.  I  was  pressed  to  publish  this  ser 
mon,  and  reluctantly  consented.  From  a  personal  attachment 
of  near  twenty  years'  standing,  and  a  high  respect  for  your 
character,  in  private  as  well  as  in  public  life,  1  took  the  liberty 
of  dedicating  it  to  you.  I  had  your  affectionate  thanks  for  my 
performance,  in  a  letter  wherein  you  express,  in  the  most  deli 
cate  and  obliging  terms,  your  regard  for  me,  and  your  wishes 
of  a  continuance  of  my  friendship  and  approbation  of  your 
conduct. 

"Farther  than  this  I  intended  not  to  proceed.  My  sermon 
speaks  for  itself,  and  utterly  disclaims  the  idea  of  independency. 
My  sentiments  were  well  known  to  my  friends.  I  communicated 
them  without  reserve,  to  many  respectable  members  of  Con 
gress,  who  expressed  a  warm  approbation  of  them.  I  persisted 
to  the  very  last  moment  in  using  the  Prayers  for  my  Sovereign 


430  APPENDIX. 

and  Royal  Family,  though  threatened  with  insult  from  the  vio 
lence  of  a  party. 

"  Upon  the  Declaration  of  Independency  I  called  my  vestry 
and  solemnly  put  the  question  to  them,  \vhether  they  thought  it 
best,  for  the  peace  and  welfare  of  the  congregations,  to  shut  up 
the  churches,  or  to  continue  the  service  without  using  the 
prayers  for  the  royal  family.  This  was  the  sad  alternative.  I 
concluded  to  abide  by  their  decision,  as  I  could  not  have  time 
to  consult  my  spiritual  superiors  in  England.  They  determined 
it  most  expedient,  under  such  critical  circumstances,  to  keep 
open  the  churches,  that  the  congregations  might  not  be  dis 
persed,  which  we  had  great  reason  to  apprehend. 

"  A  very  few  days  after  the  fatal  Declaration  of  Independence, 
I  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Hancock,  sent  by  express  to  Ger- 
mantown,  where  my  family  were  for  the  summer  season,  ac 
quainting  me  that  I  was  appointed  Chaplain  to  the  Congress, 
and  desired  to  attend  them  at  nine  o'clock  the  next  morning. 
Surprised  and  distressed  by  an  event  I  was  not  prepared  to  ex 
pect — obliged  to  give  an  immediate  answer,  without  the  oppor 
tunity  of  consulting  my  friends,  I  rashly  accepted  the  appoint 
ment.  I  could  have  but  one  motive  for  taking  this  step.  I 
thought  the  churches  in  danger,  and  hoped  by  these  means  to 
have  been  instrumental  in  preventing  those  ills  I  had  so  much 
reason  to  apprehend.  I  can,  however,  with  truth  declare,  that 
I  then  looked  upon  independency  rather  as  an  expedient,  and  a 
hazardous  one  indeed,  thrown  out  in  terrorem,  in  order  to  pro 
cure  some  favourable  terms,  than  a  measure  that  was  to  be 
seriously  persisted  in  at  all  events.  My  sudden  change  of  con 
duct  will  clearly  evince  this  to  have  been  my  idea  of  the  matter. 

"  Upon  the  return  of  the  Committee  of  Congress,  appointed  to 
confer  with  Lord  Howe,  I  soon  discovered  their  real  intentions. 
The  different  accounts  which  each  member  of  the  committee 
gave  of  this  conference,  the  time  they  took  to  make  up  the 
matter  for  public  view,  and  the  amazing  disagreement  betwixt 
the  newspaper  accounts  and  the  relation  I  myself  had  from  the 
mouth  of  one  of  the  committee,  convinced  me  that  there  must 
have  been  some  unfair  and  ungenerous  procedure.  Their  de 
termination  to  treat  on  no  other  ground  than  that  of  indepen- 


APPENDIX.  431 

dency,  which  put  it  out  of  his  lordship's  power  to  mention  any 
terms  at  all,  was  a  sufficient  proof  to  me  that  independency  was 
the  idol  they  had  long  washed  to  set  up,  and  that  rather  than 
sacrifice  this,  they  would  deluge  this  country  in  blood. 

"  From  this  moment  I  determined  upon  my  resignation,  and 
in  the  beginning  of  October,  1776,  sent  it  in  form  to  Mr.  Han 
cock,  after  having  officiated  only  two  months  and  three  weeks  ; 
and  from  that  time,  as  far  as  my  safety  would  permit,  I  have 
been  opposed  to  all  their  measures.  This  circumstantial  account 
of  my  conduct,  I  think  due  to  the  friendship  you  were  so  oblig 
ing  as  to  express  for  me,  and  I  hope  will  be  sufficient  to  justify 
any  seeming  inconsistencies  in  the  part  I  have  acted. 

"  And  now,  dear  Sir,  suffer  me  in  the  language  of  truth  and 
real  affection  to  address  myself  to  you.  All  the  world  must  be 
convinced  that  you  are  engaged  in  the  service  of  your  country 
from  motives  perfectly  disinterested.  You  risked  every  thing 
that  was  dear  to  you.  You  abandoned  all  those  sweets  of  do 
mestic  life  of  which  your  affluent  fortune  gave  you  the  uninter 
rupted  enjoyment.  But  had  you  1  could  you  have  had  the  least 
idea  of  matters  being  carried  to  such  a  dangerous  extremity  as 
they  are  now  ?  Your  most  intimate  friends  at  that  time  shud 
dered  at  the  thoughts  of  a  separation  from  the  mother  country ; 
and  I  took  it  for  granted  that  your  sentiments  coincided  with 
theirs.  What  have  been  the  consequences  of  this  rash  and 
violent  measure  1  A  degeneracy  of  representation — confusion 
of  counsels — blunders  without  number.  The  most  respectable 
characters  have  withdrawn  themselves,  and  are  succeeded  by 
a  great  majority  of  illiberal  and  violent  men. 

"  Take  an  impartial  view  of  the  present  Congress,  and  what 
can  you  expect  from  them  ?  Your  feelings  must  be  greatly 
hurt  by  the  representation  from  your  native  province.  You 
have  no  longer  a  Randolph,  a  Bland,  or  a  Braxton  ;  men  whose 
names  will  ever  be  revered,  whose  demands  never  arose  above 
the  first  ground  on  which  they  set  out,  and  whose  truly  generous 
and  virtuous  sentiments  I  have  frequently  heard  with  rapture 
from  their  own  lips.  O  my  dear  Sir,  what  a  sad  contrast ! 
Characters  now  present  themselves  whose  minds  can  never 
mingle  with  your  own.  Your  Harrison  alone  remains,  and  he 


432  APPENDIX. 

disgusted  with  his  unworthy  associates.  As  to  those  of  my 
own  province,  some  of  them  are  so  obscure  that  their  very 
names  never  met  my  ears  before,  and  others  have  only  been  dis 
tinguished  for  the  weakness  of  their  understandings  and  the  vio 
lence  of  their  tempers.  One  alone  I  except  from  the  general 
charge.  A  man  of  virtue  dragged  reluctantly  into  their  mea 
sures,  and  restrained  by  some  false  ideas  of  honour  from  re 
tracting,  after  having  gone  too  far.  You  cannot  be  at  a  loss  to 
discover  whose  name  answers  to  this  character. 

"  From  the  New  England  Provinces  can  you  find  one  that 
as  a  gentleman  you  could  wish  to  associate  with  ?  unless  the 
soft  and  mild  address  of  Mr.  Hancock  can  atone  for  his  want 
of  every  other  qualification  necessary  for  the  station  he  fills. 
Bankrupts,  attorneys,  and  men  of  desperate  fortunes  are  his 
colleagues. 

"Maryland  no  longer  sends  a  Tilghman  and  a  Protestant 
Carroll.  Carolina  has  lost  its  Lynch,  and  the  elder  Middleton 
has  retired. 

"  Are  the  dregs  of  a  Congress  then  still  to  influence  a  mind 
like  yours?  These  are  not  the  men  you  engaged  to  serve. 
These  are  not  the  men  that  America  has  chosen  to  represent 
her  now.  Most  of  them  were  elected  by  a  little  low  faction, 
and  the  few  gentlemen  that  are  among  them,  now  well  known 
to  be  upon  the  balance,  and  looking  up  to  your  hand  alone  to 
move  the  beam.  'Tis  you,  Sir,  and  you  alone  that  supports 
the  present  Congress.  Of  this  you  must  be  fully  sensible.  Long 
before  they  left  Philadelphia,  their  dignity  and  consequence 
was  gone.  What  must  it  be  now,  since  their  precipitate  re 
treat?  I  write  with  freedom,  but  without  invective.  I  know 
these  things  to  be  true.  I  write  to  one  whose  own  observation 
must  have  convinced  him  that  they  are  so. 

"  After  this  view  of  Congress,  turn  to  your  army.  The  whole 
world  knows  that  its  very  existence  depends  upon  you,  that 
your  death  or  captivity  disperses  it  in  a  moment,  and  that  there 
is  riot  a  man  on  that  side  of  the  question  in  America,  capable 
of  succeeding  you.  As  to  the  army  itself,  what  have  you  to 
expect  from  them  1  Have  they  not  frequently  abandoned  even 
yourself  in  the  hour  of  extremity  ?  Have  you,  can  you  have, 


APPENDIX. 


433 


the  least  confidence  in  a  set  of  undisciplined  men  and  officers, 
many  of  whom  have  been  taken  from  the  lowest  of  the  people, 
without  principle  and  without  courage.  Take  away  those  that 
surround  your  person,  how  few  are  there  that  you  can  ask  to 
sit  at  your  table  ? 

"  Turn  to  your  little  navy — of  that  little,  what  is  left  ?  Of  the 
Delaware  fleet,  part  are  taken,  the  rest  must  soon  surrender. 
Of  those  in  the  other  Provinces,  some  taken,  one  or  two  at  sea, 
and  others  lying  unmanned  and  unrigged  in  their  harbours. 

"And  now  where  are  your  resources?  O,  my  dear  Sir!  how 
sadly  have  you  been  abused  by  a  faction  void  of  truth  and  void 
of  tenderness  to  you  and  your  country  !  They  have  amused  you 
with  hopes  of  a  declaration  of  war  on  the  part  of  France.  Be 
lieve  me  from  the  best  authority,  it  was  a  fiction  from  the  first. 
Early  in  the  year  1776,  a  French  gentleman  was  introduced  to 
me,  with  whom  I  became  intimately  acquainted.  His  business, 
to  all  appearance,  was  to  speculate  in  the  mercantile  way.  But 
I  believe  it  will  be  known  that  in  his  own  country  he  moved  in 
a  higher  sphere.  He  saw  your  camp.  He  became  acquainted 
with  all  your  military  preparations.  He  was  introduced  to 
Congress,  and  engaged  with  them  in  a  mercantile  contract. 
In  the  course  of  our  intimacy  he  has  frequently  told  me  he 
hoped  the  Americans  never  would  think  of  independency.  He 
gave  me  his  reasons  :  t  Independency,'  said  he,  *  can  never  be 
supported  unless  France  should  declare  war  against  England. 
I  well  know  the  state  of  her  finances ;  years  to  come  will  not 
put  them  in  a  situation  to  venture  upon  a  breach  with  England. 
At  this  moment  there  are  two  parties  in  the  Court  of  Versailles, 
one  enlisted  under  the  Due  de  Choiseul,  the  other  under  Count 
Maurepas.  Choiseul  has  no  chance  of  succeeding.  He  is 
violent  for  war.  Maurepas  must  get  the  better.  He  is  for 
economy  and  peace.'  This  was  his  information  which  I  men 
tioned  to  several  members  of  Congress.  They  treated  it  as  a 
fable,  depending  entirely  on  Dr.  FRANKLIN'S  intelligence.  The 
truth  of  the  matter  is  this :  Dr.  Franklin  built  upon  the  success 
of  Choiseul.  Upon  his  arrival  in  France,  he  found  him  out  of 
place,  his  counsels  reprobated,  and  his  party  dwindled  to  an 
insignificant  faction.  This  you  may  depend  upon  to  be  the 
37 


434  APPENDIX. 

true  state  of  the  Court  of  France.  And  further,  by  vast 
numbers  of  letters  found  on  board  prizes  taken  by  the  King's 
ships,  it  appears  that  all  commerce  with  the  merchants  of 
France,  through  whom  alone  your  supplies  have  been  con 
veyed,  will  soon  be  at  an  end,  the  letters  being  full  of  complaints 
of  no  remittances  from  America,  and  many  individuals  having 
greatly  suffered. 

"  From  your  friends  in  England,  you  have  nothing  to  expect. 
Their  numbers  are  diminished  to  a  cipher.  The  spirit  of  the 
whole  nation  is  in  full  activity  against  you.  A  few  sounding 
names  among  the  nobility,  though  perpetually  rung  in  your  ears, 
are  said  to  be  without  character,  without  influence.  Disappointed 
ambition,  I  am  told,  has  made  them  desperate,  and  they  only  wish 
to  make  the  deluded  Americans  instruments  of  their  revenge. 
All  orders  and  ranks  of  men  in  Great  Britain,  are  now  unani 
mous,  and  determined  to  risk  their  all  on  the  contest.  Trade 
and  manufactures  are  found  to  flourish ;  and  new  channels  are 
continually  opening,  that  will,  perhaps,  more  than  supply  the  old. 
In  a  word,  your  harbours  are  blocked  up,  your  cities  fall  one 
after  another,  fortress  after  fortress,  battle  after  battle  is  lost.  A 
British  army,  after  having  passed  almost  unmolested  through  a 
vast  extent  of  country,  have  possessed  themselves  with  ease  of 
the  Capital  of  America.  How  unequal  the  contest  now  !  How 
fruitless  the  expense  of  blood ! 

"Under  so  many  discouraging  circumstances,  can  virtue,  can 
honour,  can  the  love  of  your  country  prompt  you  to  persevere. 
Humanity  itself  (and  sure  I  am  humanity  is  no  stranger  to  your 
breast)  calls  upon  you  to  desist.  Your  army  must  perish  for 
want  of  common  necessaries,  or  thousands  of  innocent  families 
must  perish  to  support  them.  Wherever  they  encamp  the 
country  must  be  impoverished.  Wherever  they  march  the 
troops  of  Britain  will  pursue,  and  must  complete  the  devastation 
which  America  herself  has  begun. 

"  Perhaps  it  may  be  said  that  '  it  is  better  to  die  than  to  be 
slaves.'  This,  indeed,  is  a  splendid  maxim  in  theory;  and, 
perhaps,  in  some  instances,  may  be  found  experimentally  true. 
But  where  there  is  the  least  probability  of  an  happy  accommo 
dation,  surely  wisdom  and  humanity  call  for  some  sacrifices  to 


APPENDIX.  435 

be  made  to  prevent  inevitable  destruction.  You  well  know 
that  there  is  but  one  invincible  bar  to  such  an  accommodation; 
could  this  be  removed  other  obstacles  might  readily  be  over 
come.  'Tis  to  you,  and  you  alone,  your  bleeding  country 
looks,  and  calls  aloud  for  this  sacrifice.  Your  arm  alone  has 
strength  sufficient  to  remove  this  bar.  May  Heaven  inspire 
you  with  the  glorious  resolution  of  exerting  this  strength  at  so 
interesting  a  crisis,  and  thus  immortalizing  yourself  as  friend 
and  guardian  of  your  country. 

"  Your  penetrating  eye  needs  not  more  explicit  language  to 
discern  my  meaning.  With  that  prudence  and  delicacy,  there 
fore,  of  which  I  know  you  to  be  possessed,  represent  to  Con 
gress  the  indispensable  necessity  of  rescinding  the  hasty  and 
ill-advised  Declaration  of  Independency.  Recommend,  and 
you  have  an  undoubted  right  to  recommend,  an  immediate 
cessation  of  hostilities.  Let  the  controversy  be  taken  up  where 
that  Declaration  left  it,  and  where  Lord  HOWE  certainly  ex 
pected  to  find  it.  Let  men  of  clear  and  impartial  characters, 
in  or  out  of  Congress,  liberal  in  their  sentiments,  heretofore 
independent  in  their  fortunes  (and  some  such  may  surely  be 
found  in  America),  be  appointed  to  confer  with  His  Majesty's 
Commissioners.  Let  them,  if  they  please,  prepare  some  well- 
digested  constitutional  plan,  to  lay  before  them  as  the  com 
mencement  of  a  negotiation.  When  they  have  gone  thus  far, 
I  am  confident  that  the  most  happy  consequences  will  ensue. 
Unanimity  will  immediately  take  place  through  the  different 
Provinces.  Thousands  who  are  now  ardently  wishing  and 
praying  for  such  a  measure,  will  step  forth  and  declare  them 
selves  the  zealous  advocates  of  constitutional  liberty,  and  mil 
lions  will  bless  the  Hero  that  left  the  field  of  war  to  decide  this 
most  important  contest  with  the  weapons  of  wisdom  and 
humanity. 

"O!  Sir,  let  no  false  ideas  of  worldly  honour  deter  you  from 
engaging  in  so  glorious  a  task.  Whatever  censures  may  be 
thrown  out  by  mean  and  illiberal  minds,  your  character  will 
rise  in  the  estimation  of  the  virtuous  and  noble;  it  will  appear 
with  lustre  in  the  annals  of  History,  and  form  a  glorious  con 
trast  to  that  of  those  who  have  sought  to  obtain  conquests  and 


436 


APPENDIX. 


gratify  their  own  ambition  by  the  destruction  of  their  species 
and  the  ruin  of  their  country. 

"  Be  assured,  Sir,  that  I  write  not  this  under  the  eye  of  any 
British  officer,  or  person  connected  with  the  British  army  or 
ministry.  The  sentiments  I  express  are  the  real  sentiments  of 
my  own  heart ;  such  as  I  have  long  held,  and  which  I  should 
have  made  known  to  you  by  letter  before,  had  I  not  fully  ex 
pected  an  opportunity  of  a  private  conference.  When  you 
passed  through  Philadelphia  on  your  way  to  Wilmington,  I  was 
confined  by  a  severe  fit  of  the  gravel  to  my  chamber.  I  have 
since  continued  so  much  indisposed,  and  times  have  been  so  very 
distressing,  that  I  had  neither  spirit  to  write  a  letter,  nor  oppor 
tunity  to  convey  it  when  written.  Nor  do  I  yet  know  by  what 
means  I  shall  get  these  sheets  to  your  hand. 

"  I  would  fain  hope  that  I  have  said  nothing  by  which  your 
delicacy  can  be  in  the  least  hurt.  If  I  have,  I  assure  you,  it 
has  been  without  the  least  intention ;  and,  therefore,  your  can 
dour  will  lead  you  to  forgive  me.  I  have  spoken  freely  of 
Congress  and  of  the  Army.  But  what  I  have  said,  is  partly 
from  my  own  knowledge,  and  partly  from  the  information  of 
some  respectable  members  of  the  former,  and  some  of  the  best 
officers  in  the  latter.  I  would  not  offend  the  meanest  person 
upon  earth.  What  I  say  to  you  I  say  in  confidence,  and  to 
answer  what  I  cannot  but  deem  a  most  valuable  purpose.  I 
love  my  country.  I  love  you.  But  to  the  love  of  truth,  the 
love  of  peace,  and  the  love  of  God,  I  hope  I  should  be  enabled, 
if  called  to  the  trial,  to  sacrifice  every  other  inferior  love. 

"  If  the  arguments  made  use  of  in  this  letter,  should  have  so 
much  influence  as  to  engage  you  in  the  glorious  work  which  I 
have  so  warmly  recommended,  I  shall  ever  deem  my  success 
as  the  highest  temporal  favour  that  Providence  could  grant  me. 
Your  interposition  and  advice  I  am  confident  would  meet  with 
a  favourable  reception  from  the  authority  under  which  you  act. 
If  it  should  not,  you  have  an  infallible  resource  still  left.  NEGO 
TIATE  for  AMERICA  at  the  head  of  your  ARMY. 

"  After  all  it  may  appear  presumption  in  an  individual  to  ad 
dress  himself  to  you  on  a  subject  of  such  magnitude,  or  to  say 
what  measures  would  best  secure  the  interest  and  welfare  of  a 


APPENDIX.  437 

whole  continent.  The  friendly  and  favourable  opinion  you  have 
always  expressed  for  me,  emboldened  me  to  undertake  it,  and 
(which  has  greatly  added  to  the  weight  of  this  motive)  I  have 
been  strongly  impressed  with  a  sense  of  duty  upon  the  occa 
sion,  which  left  my  conscience  uneasy  and  my  heart  afflicted 
till  I  had  fully  discharged  it.  I  am  no  enthusiast.  The  case 
is  new  and  singular  to  me.  But  I  could  not  enjoy  a  moment's 
peace,  till  this  letter  was  written.  With  the  most  ardent 
prayers  for  your  spiritual  as  well  as  temporal  welfare,  I  am, 
Your  most  obedient  and 

Sincere  friend  and  servant, 

(Signed)  JACOB  DUCHE. 

His  Excellency  Gen.  WASHINGTON. 


GENERAL    WASHINGTON    TO    FEANCIS    HOPKINSON.* 

"Head  Quarters,  21  November,  1777. 
"  SIR, 

"  I  am  favoured  with  yours  of  the  14th  instant,  enclosing  a 
letter  for  the  Reverend  Mr.  Duche.  I  will  endeavour  to  for 
ward  it  to  him,  but  I  imagine  it  will  never  be  permitted  to 
reach  his  hands.  I  confess  to  you,  that  I  was  not  more  sur 
prised  than  concerned  at  receiving  so  extraordinary  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Duche,  of  whom  I  had  entertained  the  most  favour 
able  opinion,  and  I  am  still  willing  to  suppose,  that  it  was  rather 
dictated  by  his  fears  than  by  his  real  sentiments ;  but  I  very 
much  doubt  whether  the  great  numbers  of  respectable  charac 
ters,  in  the  State  and  Army,  on  whom  he  has  bestowed  the  most 
unprovoked  and  unmerited  abuse,  will  ever  attribute  it  to  the 
same  cause,  or  forgive  the  man  who  has  artfully  endeavoured 
to  engage  me  to  sacrifice  them  to  purchase  my  own  safety. 

"  I  never  intended  to  make  the  letter  more  public,  than  by 

*  Sparks'  Life  and  Writings  of  Washington. — ED. 
37* 


438  APPENDIX. 

laying  it  before  Congress.  I  thought  this  a  duty,  which  I  owed 
to  myself;  for,  had  any  accident  happened  to  the  army  entrusted 
to  my  command,  and  had  it  ever  afterwards  appeared,  that  such 
a  letter  had  been  written  to  and  received  by  me,  might  it  not 
have  been  said,  that  I  had  betrayed  my  country  t  And  would 
not  such  a  correspondence,  if  kept  a  secret,  have  given  good 
grounds  for  the  suspicion  ?  I  thank  you  for  the  favourable 
sentiments  which  you  are  pleased  to  express  of  me,  and  I  hope 
no  act  of  mine  will  ever  induce  you  to  alter  them.  I  am,  &c. 

"  GEORGE  WASHINGTON." 


FRANCIS  HOPKINSON  TO  JACOB  DUCHE.* 

"  Bordentown,  14th  November,  1777. 
"  DEAR  BROTHER, 

"  A  letter  signed  with  your  name,  dated  at  Philadelphia,  on 
the  8th  of  October,  and  addressed  to  his  Excellency  General 
Washington,  is  handed  about  the  country.  Many  copies  are 
taken,  and  I  doubt  not  but  it  will  soon  get  into  the  press,  and 
become  public  throughout  the  continent.  Words  cannot  express 
the  grief  and  consternation  that  wounded  my  soul  at  the  sight 
of  this  fatal  performance.  What  infatuation  could  influence  you 
to  offer  to  his  Excellency  an  address,  filled  with  gross  misrepre 
sentation,  illiberal  abuse,  and  sentiments  unworthy  of  a  man  of 
character  ?  You  have  endeavoured  to  screen  your  own  weak 
nesses  by  the  most  artful  glosses,  and  to  apologize  to  the  General 
for  the  instability  of  your  temper,  in  a  manner  that  I  am  sure 
cannot  be  satisfactory  to  your  own  conscience. 

"  I  could  go  through  this  extraordinary  letter,  and  point  out 
to  you  truth  distorted  in  every  leading  part.  But  the  world 
will  doubtless  do  this  with  a  severity  that  must  be  daggers  to 
the  sensibilities  of  your  heart.  Read  that  letter  over  again,  and 
if  possible  divest  yourself  of  the  fears  and  influence,  whatever 
they  were,  that  induced  you  to  pen  it.  Consider  its  contents 
with  an  impartial  eye,  and  reflect  on  the  ideas  it  will  naturally 

*  Sparks'  Life  and  Writings  of  Washington. — FD. 


APPENDIX.  439 

raise  in  the  minds  of  the  multitude.  You  will  then  find,  that  by 
a  vain  and  weak  effort  you  have  attempted  the  integrity  of  one 
whose  virtue  is  impregnable  to  the  assaults  of  fear  or  flattery, 
whose  judgment  needed  not  your  information,  and  who,  I  am 
sure,  would  have  resigned  his  charge  the  moment  he  found  it 
likely  to  lead  him  out  of  the  paths  of  virtue  and  honour.  You 
will  find  that  you  have  drawn  upon  you  the  resentment  of  Con 
gress,  the  resentment  of  the  army,  the  resentment  of  many 
worthy  and  noble  characters  in  England,  whom  you  know  not, 
and  the  resentment  of  your  insulted  country.  You  have  ven 
tured  to  assert  many  things  at  large  of  the  affairs  of  England, 
France,  and  America,  which  are  far  from  being  true,  and 
which,  from  your  contracted  knowledge  in  these  matters,  it  is 
impossible  for  you  to  be  acquainted  with.  In  the  whole  of  your 
letter,  you  have  never  once  recommended  yourself  to  those, 
whose  favour  you  seem  desirous  of  obtaining,  by  expatiating  on 
the  justice  or  humanity  of  their  conduct,  and  at  the  same  time 
have  said  every  thing  that  can  render  you  odious  to  those,  on 
whom  the  happiness  of  your  future  life  must  depend. 

"  You  presumptuously  advise  our  worthy  General,  on  whom 
millions  depend  with  implicit  confidence,  to  abandon  their  dear 
est  hopes,  and  with  or  without  the  consent  of  his  constituents  to 
*  negotiate  for  America  at  the  head  of  his  army.1  Would  not 
the  blood  of  the  slain  in  battle  rise  against  such  perfidy  ?  And 
with  whom  would  you  have  him  negotiate?  Are  they  not 
those,  who,  without  the  sanction  of  any  civil,  moral,  or  religious 
right,  have  come  three  thousand  miles  to  destroy  our  peace  and 
property,  to  lay  waste  your  native  country  with  fire  and  sword, 
and  cruelly  murder  its  inhabitants  ?  Look  for  their  justice  and 
honour  in  their  several  proclamations,  and  look  for  their  huma 
nity  in  the  jails  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  and  in  your 
own  Potter's  Field.  The  whole  force  of  the  reasoning  con 
tained  in  your  letter  tends  to  this  point:  that  virtue  and  honour 
require  us  to  stand  by  truth,  as  long  as  it  can  be  done  with 
safety,  but  that  her  cause  may  be  abandoned  on  the  approach 
of  danger ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  the  justice  of  the  American 
cause  ought  to  be  squared  by  the  success  of  her  arms. 

"  On  the  whole,  I  find  it  impossible  to  reconcile  the  matter  and 


440  APPENDIX. 

style  of  this  letter  with  your  general  conduct,  or  with  the  virtues 
of  your  heart.  I  would  fain  hope,  notwithstanding  your  asser 
tion  to  the  contrary,  that  you  wrote  it  with  a  bayonet  held  to 
your  breast,  by  order  of  the  unprincipled  usurpers  of  your  native 
city.  But  my  chief  motive  for  writing  to  you  at  this  time  is  to 
assure  you,  that  I  firmly  believe  that  our  just  defensive  war 
will  be  crowned  with  success,  and  that  we  shall  ere  long  return 
to  our  habitations  in  Philadelphia.  I  would,  therefore,  most 
earnestly  warn  you  to  evade  the  dismal  consequences  of  your 
ill-judged  address  to  our  beloved  General.  Do  all  you  can  to 
wipe  off,  if  possible,  its  unhappy  effects.  I  tremble  for  you,  for 
my  good  sister,  and  her  little  family.  I  tremble  for  your  per 
sonal  safety.  Be  assured  I  write  this  from  true  brotherly  love. 
Our  intimacy  has  been  of  a  long  duration,  even  from  our  early 
youth  ;  long  and  uninterrupted,  without  even  a  rub  in  the  way; 
and  so  long  have  the  sweetness  of  your  manners,  and  the  inte 
grity  of  your  heart,  fixed  my  affections. 

"I  am  perfectly  disposed  to  attribute  this  unfortunate  step  to 
the  timidity  of  your  temper,  the  weakness  of  your  nerves,  and 
the  undue  influence  of  those  about  you.  But  will  the  world 
hold  you  so  excused  ?  Will  the  individuals  you  have  so  freely 
censured  and  characterized  with  contempt  have  this  tenderness 
for  you  ]  I  fear  not.  They  will  only  judge  of  your  conduct  by 
its  rashness,  and  proportion  their  resentment  to  their  sensibility 
of  the  wounds  you  have  given.  I  pray  God  to  inspire  you  with 
some  means  of  extricating  yourself  from  this  embarrassing  diffi 
culty.  For  my  own  part,  I  have  well  considered  the  principles 
on  which  I  took  part  with  my  country,  and  am  determined  to 
abide  by  them  to  the  last  extremity.  I  beg  my  love  to  my  good 
mother,  and  my  affectionate  sisters.  I  often  think  of  them  with 
great  pain  and  anxiety,  lest  they  should  suffer  from  the  want  of 
those  necessary  supplies,  that  are  now  cut  off.  May  God  pre 
serve  them  and  you  in  this  time  of  trial.  I  am,  &c. 

"  FRANCIS  HOPKINSON." 


APPENDIX. 


441 


JACOB    DUCHE    TO    GENERAL    WASHINGTON.* 

"Asylum,  Lambeth,  2  April,  1783. 
"  SIR  — 

"  Will  your  Excellency  condescend  to  accept  of  a  few  lines 
from  one,  who  ever  was  and  wishes  still  to  be  your  sincere 
friend,  who  never  intentionally  sought  to  give  you  a  moment' s 
pain,  who  entertains  for  you  the  highest  personal  respect,  and 
would  be  happy  to  be  assured  under  your  own  hand,  that  he 
does  not  labour  under  your  displeasure,  but  that  you  freely  for 
give  what  a  weak  judgment,  but  a  very  affectionate  heart,  once 
presumed  to  advise  ?  Many  circumstances,  at  present  unknown 
to  you,  conspired  to  make  me  deem  it  my  duty  to  write  to  you. 
Ignorance  and  simplicity  saw  not  the  necessity  of  your  divulg 
ing  the  letter.  I  am  convinced,  however,  that  you  could  not,  in 
your  public  station,  do  otherwise.  I  cannot  say  a  word  in  vin 
dication  of  my  conduct  but  this,  that  I  had  been  for  months 
before  distressed  with  continual  apprehensions  for  you  and  all 
my  friends  without  the  British  lines.  I  looked  upon  all  as  gone ; 
or  that  nothing  could  save  you,  but  rescinding  the  Declaration 
of  Independency.  Upon  this  ground  alone  I  presumed  to  speak ; 
not  to  advise  an  act  of  base  treachery,  my  soul  would  have  re 
coiled  from  the  thought ;  not  to  surrender  your  army,  or  betray 
the  righteous  cause  of  your  country,  but,  at  the  head  of  that 
army,  supporting  and  supported  by  them,  to  negotiate  with 
Britain  for  our  constitutional  rights. 

"  Can  you  then  join  with  my  country  in  pardoning  this  error  of 
judgment?  Will  you  yet  honour  me  with  your  great  interest 
and  influence,  by  recommending,  at  least  expressing  your  appro 
bation  of  the  repeal  of  an  act,  that  keeps  me  in  a  state  of  banish 
ment  from  my  native  country,  from  the  arms  of  a  dear  aged 
father,  and  the  embraces  of  a  numerous  circle  of  valuable  and 
long-loved  friends  ?  Your  liberal,  generous  mind,  I  am  per 
suaded,  will  never  exclude  me  wholly  from  your  regard  for  a 
mere  political  error ;  especially,  as  you  must  have  heard,  that, 
since  the  date  of  that  letter,  I  have  led  a  life  of  perfect  retirement, 

*  Sparks'  Life  and  Writings  of  Washington. — ED. 


442 


APPENDIX. 


and  since  my  arrival  in  England  have  devoted  myself  wholly 
to  the  duties  of  my  profession,  and  confined  my  acquaintance  to 
a  happy  circle  of  literary  and  religious  friends. 

"  I  have  written  to  my  father  and  to  many  of  my  friends 
largely  on  this  subject,  requesting  them  to  make  such  application 
to  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  in  my  behalf,  as  may  be  judged 
necessary  and  expedient.  Should  this  application  be  honoured 
with  success,  I  know  of  nothing  that  would  more  effectually 
satisfy  my  desires  in  a  matter  of  such  importance  to  myself 
and  my  family,  as  a  line  or  two  from  your  Excellency,  expres 
sive  of  your  approbation  of  my  return.  Temporal  emoluments 
are  not  wanting  to  induce  me  to  remain  for  life  on  this  side  of 
the  Atlantic.  I  have  been  most  hospitably  received  and  kindly 
treated  by  all  ranks  of  people,  and  I  should  be  ungrateful  not  to 
acknowledge  in  the  strongest  terms  my  obligations  to  those  who 
have  placed  me  in  the  easy  and  comfortable  situation  I  now 
enjoy.  It  is  not  necessity,  therefore,  but  unalterable  affection  to 
my  native  country,  that  urges  me  to  seek  a  return.  With  every 
good  wish  and  prayer  for  your  best  felicity,  and  my  most  hearty 
congratulations  on  the  happy  event  of  peace,  I  have  the  honour 
to  be  your  Excellency's  most  obedient  and  humble  servant, 

"  JACOB  DUCHE." 

GENERAL  WASHINGTON  TO  JACOB  DUCHE. 

"Head  Quarters,  10  August,  1783. 
"•SlR, 

"  I  have  received  your  letter  of  the  2d  of  April,  and,  reflecting 
on  its  contents,  I  cannot  but  say  that  I  am  heartily  sorry  for  the 
occasion  which  has  produced  it.  Personal  enmity  I  bear  none 
to  any  man.  So  far,  therefore,  as  your  return  to  this  country 
depends  on  my  private  voice,  it  would  be  given  in  favour  of  it 
with  cheerfulness.  But,  removed  as  I  am  from  the  people  and 
policy  of  the  State  in  which  you  formerly  resided,  and  to  whose 
determination  your  case  must  be  submitted,  it  is  my  duty,  what 
ever  may  be  my  inclination,  to  leave  its  decision  to  its  constitu 
tional  judges.  Should  this  be  agreeable  to  your  wishes,  it  can 
not  fail  to  meet  my  entire  approbation.  I  am,  &c. 

"  GEORGE  WASHINGTON." 


APPENDIX.  443 

The  laws  of  Pennsylvania,  excluding  the  refugees  from  that 
State,  were  not  repealed  till  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Duche  returned  to  Philadelphia 
in  the  year  1790,  much  broken  in  health,  having  suffered  a 
paralytic  affection.  He  died  in  1794,  being  then  about  sixty 
years  of  age.* — ED. 


F. 

PAGE   117. 

JOSEPH  GALLOWAY. 

The  seventh  volume  of  Sparks'  edition  of  the  works  of 
Franklin  contains,  in  a  note,  the  following  biographical  notice 
of  Mr.  Galloway,  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  J.  Francis  Fisher,  of 
Philadelphia: — 

"  Joseph  Galloway,  son  of  Peter  Galloway,  was  born  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  West  River,  Anne  Arundel  County,  Maryland, 
about  the  year  1730.  As  his  family  was  respectable  and  of 
good  fortune,  his  education  was  probably  the  best  that  could  be 
obtained  in  the  middle  colonies.  He  came  early  in  life  to 
Philadelphia,  where  he  commenced  the  practice  of  the  law,  in 
which  he  attained  eminence.  In  the  year  1757,  he  was  elected 
to  the  Assembly  for  the  County  of  Philadelphia,  and  immediately 
took  a  prominent  stand  in  that  body,  being  a  member  of  most 
of  the  committees,  and  constantly  employed  in  public  duties,  as 
we  find,  in  the  votes,  by  his  compensation  for  extra  services. 
The  next  year  he  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  grievances, 
and  managed  the  prosecution  of  Dr.  Smith  and  Mr.  Moore  for 
a  libel  on  the  Assembly.  In  subsequent  years  he  held  the  same 
place;  and  his  Report,  in  1764,  on  the  state  and  grievances  of 
the  province,  was  the  occasion  of  his  well-known  speech  pub- 

*  Sparks'  Life  and  Writings  of  Washington. — ED. 


444  APPENDIX. 

lished  with  Dr.  Franklin's  Preface,  in  answer  to  one  of  the 
celebrated  John  Dickinson. 

"  He  sided  with  Dr.  Franklin  in  opposition  to  the  Proprietary 
interest,  and  urged  the  resumption  of  the  Government  by  the 
Crown.  And  though,  on  this  account  in  1764  he  lost  his  elec 
tion  in  the  county,  he  was,  the  next  year,  returned  a  member, 
and  was  chosen  Speaker  of  the  Assembly,  to  which  office  he 
was  successively  re-elected  till  the  year  1774. 

"  In  1757  he  was  one  of  the  agents  of  Pennsylvania  at  the 
treaty  with  the  Indians  at  Easton.  In  the  next  year,  as  one  of 
the  commissioners  under  the  act  for  granting  one  hundred  thou 
sand  pounds,  he  entered  into  a  controversy  with  the  Governor, 
which  maybe  seen  at  length  in  the  votes,  and  Gordon's  History. 
What  were  his  powers  as  a  speaker  tradition  does  not  say,  but 
he  led  the  popular  party  in  all  their  attacks  upon  the  Proprietary 
interest ;  and  was  so  highly  esteemed  by  them,  that  they  dele 
gated  him  as  a  member  of  the  General  Congress,  which  met  at 
Philadelphia,  in  1774.  Whether  he  took  an  active  part  in  their 
proceedings  does  not  appear.  His  name  is  signed  to  the  de 
clarations  and  resolutions ;  but  he  seems  to  have  soon  abandoned 
the  Revolutionary  cause,  under  the  influence  of  his  loyal  princi 
ples  or  his  sordid  fears. 

"  After  the  British  troops  had  penetrated  into  New  Jersey,  in 

1776,  on  their  then  intended  march  to  Philadelphia,  he  was 
among  those  who  joined  the  army,  previous  to  the  capture  of 
the  Hessians  at  Trenton.     He  afterwards  accompanied  them 
on  their  route  by  the  way  of  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  with  them 
entered  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  latter  end  of  September, 

1777.  Here  he  was  an  active  agent  under  Sir  William  Howe, 
the  Commander-in-chief  of  the  British  forces  in  A  merica.    On  the 
evacuation  of  Philadelphia,  in  June,  1778,  he  went  to  New  York, 
where  he  remained  some  months,  and  thence  sailed  for  England, 
accompanied  by  his  only  daughter,  abandoning  (according  to 
his  own  account)  an  estate  of  the  value  of  forty  thousand  pounds, 
which  had  been  confiscated  by  the  Government  of  Pennsylvania 
in  pursuance  of  his  proscription  and  attainder.     But  the  larger 
part  of  this  estate,  which  he  held  by  courtesy,  being  the  in 
heritance  of  his  wife,  the  daughter  of  Lawrence  Growdon  of 


APPENDIX.  445 


Bucks  County,  (for  a  long  time  Speaker  of  the  Provincial 
Assembly,)  was  restored  to  their  daughter.  It  is  called  Trevose, 
and  is  still  owned  by  his  descendants,  having  continued  in  the 
family  since  the  settlement  of  Pennsylvania. 

"  On  his  arrival  in  England,  Galloway  was  examined  before 
the  House  of  Commons  on  the  transactions  in  America,  and  his 
representations,  which  are  in  print,  did  not  reflect  much  credit 
on  the  British  Commanders.  He  published,  in  1779,  a  pamphlet, 
entitled,  Letters  to  a  Nobleman  on  the  conduct  of  the  war  in 
the  Middle  Colonies,  in  which,  notwithstanding  his  attachments, 
he  discloses  and  reprehends  the  conduct  of  the  British  troops, 
especially  in  New  Jersey.  He  also  published  <  A  Letter  to 
Lord  Howe,'  <  A  Reply  to  the  Observations  of  General  Howe,' 
'  Cool  Thoughts  on  the  Consequences  of  American  Indepen 
dence,'  « Candid  Examination  of  the  Claims  of  Great  Britain 
and  her  Colonies,'  *  Reflections  on  the  American  Rebellion  in 
1780,'  and  some  other  pamphlets.  He  was,  it  is  believed,  a 
pensioner  of  the  British  Government,  and  he  resided  in  Eng 
land  till  the  time  of  his  decease,  in  1803." 

During  the  controversy  between  the  friends  and  opponents 
of  the  Proprietary  interests,  Galloway  and  Dickinson  took  each 
an  active  part.  "  Each  published  a  speech  which  he  had  de 
livered  in  the  Legislative  Assembly;  and  it  was  remarkable 
that  the  introduction  to  each  (one  written  by  Dr.  Franklin,  who 
opposed  the  Proprietary  interest,  and  the  other  by  Dr.  Smith 
the  coadjutor  of  Dickinson,)  were  at  the  time  more  admired 
than  the  original  compositions." — Watson. — ED. 


G. 

PAGE  119. 

JOHN   DICKINSON. 


JOHN  DICKINSON  was  a  native  of  Maryland,  where  he  was  born 
in  1732.     His  parents  soon  afterwards  removed  to  Delaware, 
38 


446  APPENDIX. 

where  they  educated  their  son.  He  read  law  in  Philadelphia, 
and,  in  the  farther  prosecution  of  his  legal  studies,  in  the  Temple 
at  London.  Upon  his  return  to  Philadelphia,  he  commenced  the. 
successful  practice  of  his  profession,  and  was  early  elected  to  the 
Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  in  which  body  his  aptitude  as  a 
speaker  and  general  tact  gave  him  considerable  influence. 

"  The  election  of  members  of  legislature,  in  the  autumn  of 
1764,  was,"  says  Sparks,  "sharply  contested.  It  turned  on  the 
question  of  a  change  of  government.  The  proprietary  party, 
having  much  at  stake,  redoubled  their  efforts ;  and,  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  and  some  of  the  counties,  they  were  successful. 
Franklin,  after  having  been  chosen  fourteen  years  successively, 
now  lost  his  election,  there  being  against  him  a  majority  of  about 
twenty-five  votes  in  four  thousand.  But,  after  all,  it  was  an 
empty  triumph.  When  the  members  convened,  there  were  two 
to  one  in  favour  of  the  measures  of  the  last  Assembly,  and  they 
resolved  to  carry  these  measures  into  effect.  Being  determined 
to  pursue  their  object  with  all  the  force  they  could  bring  to  bear 
upon  it,  they  appointed  Dr.  Franklin  as  a  special  agent  to  pro 
ceed  to  the  Court  of  Great  Britain,  and  there  to  take  charge  of 
the  petition  for  a  change  of  government,  and  to  manage  the  gene 
ral  affairs  of  the  province.  This  appointment  was  a  surprise 
upon  the  proprietary  party.  They  had  imagined,  that,  by  defeat 
ing  his  election,  they  had  rid  themselves  of  an  active  and  trouble 
some  opponent  in  the  Assembly,  and  weakened  his  influence 
abroad.  When  it  was  proposed,  therefore,  to  raise  him  to  a  situa 
tion,  in  which  he  could  more  effectually  than  ever  serve  the  same 
cause,  the  agitation  of  the  House,  and  the  clamour  out  of  doors 
was  extreme.  His  adversaries  testified  their  chagrin  by  the  means 
they  used  to  prevent  his  appointment.  John  Dickinson,  while  he 
could  not  refrain  from  eulogizing  him  as  a  man,  inveighed  stre 
nuously  against  his  political  principles  and  conduct ;  at  the  same 
time  exhibiting  symptoms  of  alarm,  that  would  seem  almost  lu 
dicrous,  if  it  were  not  known  what  power  there  is  in  the  spirit  of 
party  to  distort  truth  and  pervert  the  judgment.  l  The  gentleman 
proposed,'  he  says,  in  a  speech  to  the  House,  'has  been  called 
here,  to-day,  a  great  luminary  of  the  learned  world.  Far  be  it 
from  me  to  detract  from  the  merit  I  admire.  Let  him  still  shine, 


APPENDIX.  447 

but  without  wrapping  his  country  in  flames.  Let  him,  from  a 
private  station,  from  a  smaller  sphere,  diffuse,  as,  I  think,  he  may, 
a  beneficial  light ;  but  let  him  not  be  made  to  move  and  blaze 
like  a  comet,  to  terrify  and  distress.'  When,"  continues  Sparks, 
"the  second  Congress  assembled,  the  relations  between  the  Colo 
nies  and  Great  Britain  had  assumed  a  new  character.  The  blood 
of  American  freemen  had  been  shed  on  their  own  soil  by  a  wanton 
exercise  of  military  power.  This  rash  act  dissolved  the  charm, 
which  had  hitherto  bound  the  affections  of  many  a  conscientious 
American  to  the  British  Crown,  under  the  long  revered  name  of 
loyalty.  The  hour  of  trial  had  come.  After  an  animated  debate, 
which  continued  for  several  days,  it  was  declared  that  hostilities 
had  commenced,  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  with  the  design  of 
enforcing  'the  unconstitutional  and  oppressive  acts  of  Parliament ;' 
and  it  was  then  resolved,  with  great  unanimity,  that  the  Colonies 
should  be  immediately  put  in  a  state  of  defence.  This  was  all 
that  the  most  ardent  friends  of  liberty  desired;  the  more  mode 
rate  party,  at  the  head  of  which  was  Dickinson,  urged  that  they 
never  had  anticipated  resistance  by  force,  but  had  always  confided 
so  much  in  the  justice  of  the  British  government,  as  to  believe 
that  they  would  come  to  a  reasonable  compromise.  Another  op 
portunity  ought  to  be  offered,  and  the*y  wrere  strenuous  for  sending 
a  petition  to  the  king.'  Its  most  zealous  advocate  was  John 
Dickinson,  by  whom  it  was  drafted.  It  has  been  said,  indeed, 
that  this  token  of  humility  was  yielded  mainly  to  gratify  his 
wishes.  The  uprightness  of  his  character,  his  singleness  of  heart, 
and  the  great  services  he  had  rendered  to  his  country  by  his 
talents  and  his  pen,  claimed  for  him  especial  consideration.  The 
tone  and  language  of  the  petition  were  sufficiently  submissive, 
and  it  stands  in  remarkable  contrast  in  the  Journals,  with  other 
papers,  and  the  resolves  for  warlike  preparations.  Mr.  Jefferson 
tells  us,  that  Mr.  Dickinson  was  so  much  pleased  when  it  was 
adopted,  that  he  could  not  forbear  to  express  his  satisfaction  by 
saying:  'There  is  but  one  word,  Mr.  President,  in  the  paper, 
which  I  disapprove,  and  that  word  is  Congress.'  Whereupon 
Mr.  Harrison,  of  Virginia,  rose  and  said  :  '  There  is  but  one  word 
in  the  paper,  Mr.  President,  which  I  approve,  and  that  word  is 
Congress.' ' 


448  APPENDIX. 

Mr.  Dickinson's  first  publication  against  the  English  govern 
ment  appeared  in  1765.  In  this  year  he  was  appointed  a  dele 
gate  to  the  Congress  held  at  New  York.  In  1767,  he  issued,  at 
Philadelphia,  his  celebrated  "Farmer's  Letters,"  a  production 
"which  had  great  influence  in  enlightening  the  minds  of  the 
American  people,  on  the  subject  of  their  rights."  They  were 
written  with  his  distinguished  ability,  against  the  revenue  laws, 
and  were  widely  popular  with  all  classes  of  readers  in  this  coun 
try,  for  their  research,  vigour  and  perspicuity  of  their  style.  At 
the  time  of  their  publication  in  the  United  States,  Dr.  Franklin, 
in  the  discharge  of  public  duties,  was  in  London,  where  he  caused 
their  re-publication,  accompanied  by  a  commendatory  preface  from 
his  own  pen.  "Besides,"  says  Sparks,  "the  patriotic  motive  for 
this  re-publication,  it  afforded  him  an  opportunity  of  showing  that 
the  extreme  warmth  with  which  Mr.  Dickinson  had  opposed  his 
appointment  in  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly  had  not  produced,  on 
his  part,  any  diminution  of  personal  regard."  These  "  Letters  " 
were  translated  into  French  and  published  at  Paris. 

At  length,  the  great  question  of  National  Independence  became 
the  engrossing  topic  in  "newspapers,  pamphlets,  at  public  meet 
ings,  as  well  as  in  private  circles.  It  was  evident  that  a  large 
majority  of  the  nation  was  prepared  for  that  measure.  Among 
the  doubters  was  the  virtuous,  the  patriotic,  the  able,  but  irresolute 
John  Dickinson."  His  opposition  to  the  Declaration  rendering  him 
unpopular,  "  he  withdrew  from  the  public  councils,  and  did  not 
recover  his  seat  in  Congress  until  about  two  years  afterwards.  He 
then  returned  earnest  in  the  cause  of  Independence.  He  was 
subsequently  President  (Governor)  of  Pennsylvania  and  Dela 
ware  successively,  and  died  at  Wilmington,  in  February,  1808." 

ED. 


APPENDIX.  449 

H. 

PAGE  144. 

GENERAL  WASHINGTON  TO  PRESIDENT  REED. 

"Head  Quarters,  Passaic  Falls,  18th  October,  1780." 

"DEAR  SIR, 

"By  your  favour  of  the  3d  from  Bethlehem,  I  perceive  my 
letter  of  the  1st  has  not  got  to  your  hands;  but  I  have  the 
pleasure  to  find,  that  the  business  you  were  upon  anticipated  the 
purposes  of  it,  and  was  in  a  fair  way  to  answer  the  end.* 

"  Arnold's  conduct  is  so  villanously  perfidious,  that  there  are 
no  terms  which  can  describe  the  baseness  of  his  heart.  That 
overruling  Providence,  which  has  so  often  and  so  remarkably 
interposed  in  our  favour,  never  manifested  itself  moie  conspicu 
ously  than  in  the  timely  discovery  of  his  horrid  design  of  sur 
rendering  the  post  and  garrison  of  West  Point  into  the  hands  of 
the  enemy.  I  confine  my  remark  to  this  single  act  of  perfidy  ; 
for  I  am  far  from  thinking  he  intended  to  hazard  a  defeat  of 
this  important  object,  by  combining  another  with  it,  although 
there  were  circumstances  which  led  to  a  contrary  belief.  The 
confidence  and  folly,  which  have  marked  the  subsequent  con 
duct  of  this  man,  are  of  a  piece  with  his  villany;  and  all  three 
are  perfect  in  their  kind.  The  interest  you  take  in  rny  supposed 
escape,  and  the  manner  in  which  you  speak  of  it,  claim  my 
thanks  as  much  as  if  he  had  really  intended  to  involve  my  fate 
with  that  of  the  garrison,  and  I  consider  it  as  a  fresh  instance  of 
your  affectionate  regard  for  me. 

"As  I  do  not  recollect  ever  to  have  had  any  very  particular 
conversation  with  General  Schuyler  respecting  Arnold,  I  should 
be  glad  to  obtain  a  copy  of  the  letter  in  which  you  say  my 
'opinion  and  confidence  in  him  (Arnold)  is  conveyed  in  terms 
of  affection  and  approbation.'  Some  time  before  or  after  Ar 
nold's  return  from  Connecticut  (the  conversation  made  so  little 

*  General  WASHINGTON  had  written,  requesting-  President  REF.D  to  cause  to  le- 
sent  forward  as  expeditiously  as  possible  a  supply  of  flour  to  the  army. 

38* 


450  APPENDIX. 

impression  on  me,  that  I  know  not  which,)  General  Schuyler 
informed  me,  that  he  had  received  a  letter  from  Arnold,  inti 
mating  his  intention  of  joining  the  army,  and  rendering  such 
services  as  his  leg  would  permit,  adding  that  he  was  incapable 
of  active  service,  but  could  discharge  the  duties  of  a  stationary 
command  without  much  inconvenience  or  uneasiness  to  his  leg. 
I  answered,  that,  as  we  had  a  prospect  of  an  active  and  vigor 
ous  campaign,  I  should  be  glad  of  General  Arnold's  aid  and  as 
sistance,  but  saw  little  prospect  of  his  obtaining  such  a  command 
as  appeared  to  be  the  object  of  his  wishes,  because  it  was  my 
intention  to  draw  my  whole  force  into  the  field,  when  we  were 
in  circumstances  to  commence  our  operations  against  New  York, 
leaving  even  West  Point  to  the  care  of  invalids,  and  a  small 
garrison  of  militia ;  but  if,  after  this  previous  declaration,  the 
command  of  the  post,  for  the  reasons  he  assigned,  would  be 
more  convenient  and  agreeable  to  him  than  a  command  in  the 
field,  I  should  readily  indulge  him,  having  had  it  hinted  to  me, 
by  a  very  respectable  character,  a  member  of  Congress*  (not 
General  Schuyler,)  that  a  measure  of  this  kind  would  not  be 
unacceptable  to  the  State  most  immediately  interested  in  the 
welfare  and  safety  of  the  post. 

"  This,  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge  and  recollection,  is  every 
syllable  that  ever  passed  between  General  Schuyler  and  me  re 
specting  Arnold,  or  any  of  his  concerns.  The  manner  and  the 
matter  appeared  perfectly  uninteresting  to  both  of  us  at  the  time. 
He  seemed  to  have  no  other  view  in  communicating  the  thing, 
than  because  he  was  requested  to  do  it,  and  my  answer,  dictated 
by  circumstances,  you  already  have;  but  how  it  was  communi 
cated,  the  letter  will  show. 

"  That  General  Schuyler  possesses  a  share  of  my  regard  and 
confidence,  I  shall  readily  acknowledge.  A  pretty  long  ac 
quaintance  with  him,  an  opinion  of  his  abilities,  his  intimate 
knowledge  of  our  circumstances,  his  candour  as  far  as  I  have 
had  opportunities  of  forming  a  judgment  of  it,  added  to  personal 
civilities  and  proofs  of  a  warm  friendship,  which  1  never  had  a 
doubt  of,  would  leave  me  without  excuse,  were  I  to  withhold 
these  from  him.  What  ascendency  he  may  have  over  the  army 

*  Robert  R.  Livingston. 


APPENDIX.  451 

is  more  than  I  can  tell;  but  I  should  not  be  surprised  if  he 
stands  in  a  favourable  point  of  view  with  respect  to  their  esteem. 
The  means  he  took  to  acquire  a  true  knowledge  of  their  dis 
tress  while  he  was  with  them,  the  representations  he  made 
to  procure  relief,  and  his  evident  endeavours  to  promote  the 
object  for  which  he  was  appointed,  seem  to  have  made  this  a 
natural  consequence.  I  am,  dear  Sir,  &c." — ED. 


I. 

PAGE  232. 

CAPTURE  OF  GENERAL  CHARLES  LEE. 

The  capture  of  this  eccentric  officer  occurred  on  the  13th  of 
September,  1776,  at  Baskingridge,  New  Jersey.  It  was  effected 
by  a  party  of  British  cavalry  under  Colonel  Harcourt.  General 
Wilkinson  in  his  "Memoirs"  gives  the  following  interesting  ac 
count  of  the  event : — 

"  General  Lee  wasted  the  morning  in  altercation  with  certain 
militia  corps  who  were  of  his  command,  particularly  the  Connec 
ticut  Light  Horse,  several  of  whom  appeared  in  large  full-bottomed 
perukes,  and  were  treated  very  irreverently.  The  call  of  the  Ad 
jutant-General  for  orders  also  occupied  some  of  his  time,  and  we 
did  not  sit  down  to  breakfast  before  10  o'clock.  General  Lee 
was  engaged  in  answering  a  letter  from  General  Gates,  and  I  had 
risen  from  the  table,  and  was  looking  out  of  an  end  window, 
down  a  lane  about  one  hundred  yards  in  length,  which  led  to  the 
house  from  the  main  road,  when  I  discovered  a  party  of  British 
troops  turn  the  corner  of  the  avenue  at  full  charge.  Startled  at 
this  unexpected  spectacle,  I  exclaimed,  c  Here,  sir,  are  the  British 
cavalry!'  '  Where  F  exclaimed  the  General,  who  had  signed 
the  letter  in  the  instant.  'Around  the  house;'  for  they  had 
opened  files  and  encompassed  the  building.  General  Lee  ap 
peared  alarmed,  yet  collected,  and  his  second  observation  marked 
his  self-possession  :  i  Where  is  the  guard? — d — n  the  guard,  why 


452  APPENDIX. 

don't  they  fire  ?'  and  after  a  momentary  pause,  he  tnrned  to  me 
and  said  'Do,  sir,  see  what  has  become  of  the  guardP  The 
women  of  the  house  at  this  moment  entered  the  room,  and  pro 
posed  to  him  to  conceal  himself  in  a  bed,  which  he  rejected  with 
evident  disgust.  I  caught  up  the  pistols  which  lay  on  the  table, 
thrust  the  letter  he  had  been  writing  into  my  pocket,  and  passed 
into  a  room  at  the  opposite  end  of  the  house,  where  I  had  seen 
the  guard  in  the  morning.  Here  I  discovered  their  arms,  but  the 
men  were  absent.  I  stepped  out  of  the  door,  and  perceived  the 
dragoons  chasing  them  in  different  directions,  and  receiving  a 
very  uncivil  salutation,  I  returned  into  the  house. 

"  Too  inexperienced  immediately  to  penetrate  the  motives  of  this 
enterprise,  I  considered  the  rencontre  accidental,  and  from  the  ter 
rific  tales  spread  over  the  country,  of  the  violence  and  barbarity 
of  the  enemy,  I  believed  it  to  be  a  wanton  murdering  pftrty,  and 
determined  not  to  die  without  company.  I  accordingly  sought  a 
position  where  I  could  not  be  approached  by  more  than  one  per 
son  at  a  time,  and  with  a  pistol  in  each  hand,  I  awaited  the  ex 
pected  search,  resolved  to  shoot  the  first  and  the  second  person 
who  might  appear,  and  then  to  appeal  to  my  sword.  I  did  not 
long  remain  in  this  unpleasant  situation,  but  was  apprised  of  the 
object  of  the  incursion,  by  the  very  audible  declaration,  c  If  the 
General  does  not  surrender  in  Jive  minutes,  I  will  set  fire  to  the 
house?  which,  after  a  short  pause,  was  repeated  with  a  solemn- 
oath ;  and  within  two  minutes,  I  heard  it  proclaimed,  l  Here  is 
the  General,  he  has  surrendered.''  A  general  shout  ensued,  the 
trumpet  sounded  the  assembly,  and  the  unfortunate  Lee,  mounted 
on  my  horse,  which  stood  ready  at  the  door,  was  hurried  off  in 
triumph,  bareheaded,  in  his  slippers  and  blanket-coat,  his  collar 
open,  and  his  shirt  very  much  soiled  from  several  day's  use. 

"  What  a  lesson  of  caution  is  to  be  derived  from  this  event,  and 
how  important  the  admonition  furnished  by  it !  What  an  evidence 
of  the  caprice  of  fortune,  of  the  fallibility  of  human  projects,  and 
the  inscrutable  ways  of  Heaven !  The  capture  of  General  Lee, 
was  felt  as  a  public  calamity;  it  cast  a  gloom  over  the  country, 
and  excited  general  sorrow.  This  sympathy  was  honourable  to- 
the  people,  and  due  to  the  stranger  who  had  embarked  his  foix 
tune  with  them,  and  determined  to  share  their  fate,  under  cii>- 


APPENDIX. 


453 


cumstances  of  more  than  common  peril.  Although  this  misfor 
tune  deprived  the  country  of  its  most  experienced  chief,  I  have 
ever  considered  the  deprivation  a  public  blessing,  ministered  by 
the  hand  of  Providence;  for  if  General  Lee  had  not  abandoned 
caution  for  convenience,  and  taken  quarters  two  miles  from  his 
army,  on  his  exposed  flank,  he  would  have  been  safe ;  if  a  do 
mestic  traitor,  who  passed  his  quarters  the  same  morning  on 
private  business,  had  not  casually  fallen  in  with  Colonel  Har- 
court,  on  a  reconnoitring  party,  the  General's  quarters  would 
not  have  been  discovered  ;  if  my  visit,  and  the  controversy  with 
the  Connecticut  Light  Horse,  had  not  spun  out  the  morning  un 
seasonably,  the  General  would  have  been  at  his  camp  ;  if  Colonel 
Harcourt,  had  arrived  one  hour  sooner,  he  would  have  found  the 
guard  under  arms,  and  would  have  been  repulsed,  or  resisted 
until  succour  could  have  arrived  ;  if  he  had  arrived  half  an  hour 
later  the  General  would  have  been  with  his  corps;  if  the  guard  had 
paid  ordinary  attention  to  their  duty,  and  had  not  abandoned 
their  arms,  the  General's  quarters  would  have  been  defended ; 
or  if  he  had  obeyed  the  peremptory  and  reiterated  orders  of 
General  WASHINGTON,  he  would  have  been  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  enemy.  And  shall  we  impute  to  blind  chance,  such  a  chain 
of  rare  incidents  ?  I  conscientiously  answer  in  the  negative  ;  be 
cause  the  combination  was  too  intricate  and  perplexed,  for  acci 
dental  causes,  or  the  agencies  of  man.  It  must  have  been 
designed.  So  soon  as  Lieutenant  Colonel  Harcourt  retreated 

o 

with  his  prize,  I  repaired  to  the  stable,  mounted  the  first  horse  I 
could  find,  and  rode  full  speed  to  General  Sullivan,  whom  I  found 
under  inarch,  towards  Pluckamin." — ED. 


454 


APPENDIX. 


J. 
PAGE  238. 

LETTER  TO  COLONEL  REED,  OR  COLONEL  JOHN 
CADWALADER,  AT  BRISTOL. 

Camp  above  Trenton  Falls,  23d  December,  1776. 
DEAR  SIR, 

The  bearer  is  sent  down  to  know  whether  your  plan  was 
attempted  last  night,  and  if  not  to  inform  you,  that  Christmas- 
day  at  night,  one  hour  before  day,  is  the  time  fixed  upon  for 
our  attempt  on  Trenton.  For  Heaven's  sake,  keep  this  to 
yourself,  as  the  discovery  of  it  may  prove  fatal  to  us ;  our 
numbers,  sorry  am  I  to  say,  being  less  than  I  had  any  con 
ception  of;  but  necessity,  dire  necessity,  will,  nay  must,  justify 
an  attack.  Prepare,  and,  in  concert  with  GRIFFIN,  attack  as 
many  of  their  posts  as  you  possibly  can  with  a  prospect  of 
success ;  the  more  we  can  attack  at  the  same  instant,  the  more 
confusion  we  shall  spread,  and  the  greater  good  will  result 
from  it.  If  I  had  not  been  fully  convinced  before  of  the 
enemy's  designs,  I  have  now  ample  testimony  of  their  inten 
tions  to  attack  Philadelphia,  so  soon  as  the  ice  will  aflbrd  the 
means  of  conveyance. 

As  the  colonels  of  the  continental  regiments  might  kick  up 
some  dust  about  command,  unless  CADWALLADER  is  considered 
by  them  in  the  light  of  a  brigadier,  which  I  wish  him  to  be,  I 
desired  General  GATES,  who  is  unwell,  and  applied  for  leave  to 
go  to  Philadelphia,  to  endeavour,  if  his  health  would  permit 
him,  to  call  and  stay  two  or  three  days  at  Bristol  in  his  way. 
I  shall  not  be  particular;  we  could  not  ripen  matters  for  an 
attack,  before  the  time  mentioned  in  the  first  part  of  this  letter; 
so  much  out  of  sorts,  and  so  much  in  want  of  every  thing,  are 
the  troops  under  Sullivan.  The  letter  herewith  sent,  forward 


APPENDIX.  455 

on  to  Philadelphia;  I  could  wish  it  to  be  in  time  for  the 
southern  post's  departure,  which  will  be,  I  believe,  by  eleven 
o'clock  to-morrow. 

I  am,  dear  Sir,  &c. 

P.  S.  I  have  ordered  our  men  to  be  provided  with  three 
days  provisions  ready  cooked,  with  which,  and  their  blankets, 
they  are  to  march ;  for  if  we  are  successful,  which  Heaven 
grant,  and  the  circumstances  favour,  we  may  push  on.  I  shall 
direct  every  ferry  and  ford  to  be  well  guarded,  and  not  a  soul 
suffered  to  pass  without  an  officer's  going  down  with  the  per 
mit.  Do  the  same  with  you. — ED. 


K. 

PAGE  293. 

WASHINGTON  AT  BRANDYWINE. 

Bisset,  in  his  continuation  of  Hume  and  Smollet,  in  his  ac 
count  of  the  battle  of  Brandywine,  subjoins  the  following  note 
of  a  private  letter  from  Major  Ferguson — son  of  the  historian 
of  Rome — to  his  father,  from  which,  it  is  inferred,  that  the  life 
of  General  WASHINGTON  was,  on  that  day,  in  imminent  danger, 
and  absolutely  in  the  power  of  Major  Ferguson. 

While  this  officer  lay  with  a  party  of  his  riflemen  on  a  skirt  of 
a  wood  in  front  of  General  Knyphausen's  division,  the  circum 
stance  happened  of  which  the  letter  in  question  gives  the  follow 
ing  account: — 

"  We  had  not  lain  long  when  a  rebel  officer  remarkable  by  a 
Hussar  dress,  passed  towards  our  army  within  a  hundred  yards 
of  my  right  flank,  not  perceiving  us.  He  was  followed  by  an 
other  dressed  in  dark  green  and  blue,  mounted  on  a  good  bay 
horse,  with  a  remarkable  large  high  cocked  hat.  I  ordered  three 


456 


APPENDIX. 


good  shots  to  steal  near  them  and  fire  at  them;  but  the  idea  dis 
gusted  me  and  I  recalled  the  order."  The  letter,  after  some 
farther  particulars  not  necessary  to  repeat,  states,  that  it  was 
afterwards  collected  "from  some  wounded  rebel  officers,  that 
General  WASHINGTON  was  all  that  morning  with  the  light  troops, 
and  only  attended  by  a  French  officer  in  a  Hussar  dress,  he 
himself  dressed  and  mounted  in  every  respect  as  above  de 
scribed." 

In  commenting  on  the  above,  Mr.  Graydon,  in  a  note  ap 
pended  to  it,  observes,  "  Whatever  truth  there  may  be  in  this 
relation,  and  whoever  might  have  been  the  person  in  dark  green 
and  blue  with  the  remarkable  large  high  cocked  hat,  no  one  ac 
quainted  with  the  style  of  General  WASHINGTON'S  costume  during 
the  war,  or  any  other  time,  can  suppose  it  to  have  been  him,  who 
was  so  generously  dealt  with  by  the  Major.     The  General's  uni 
form  or  military  dress  was  blue  and  buff,  which,  it  may  be  very 
safely  averred  he  never  varied,  at  least  to  an  entire  change  of 
colours :  neither  was  he  ever  seen  in  a  hat  of  the  description 
given  in  the  letter.     It  is  true,  he  wore  a  cocked  hat,  but,  of  a 
moderate  size.     It  might,  indeed,  have  been  somewhat  larger 
than  those  in  fashion  in  America  at  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
but,  it  could  by  no  means  have  answered  to  the  colossal  dimen 
sions  given  by  the  Major.     The  General  had  too  correct  a  taste 
in  dress,  to  figure  in  the  bully-like  garb  of  a  Bobadil  or  a  Pistol; 
and  there  was  no  inducement  to  such  a  disguise,  being  as  much 
in  danger  in  green  and  blue  with  a  large  hat,  as  in  blue  and  bun' 
with  a  small  one.     Major  Ferguson,  therefore,  might  have  spared 
himself  the  self-gratulation  of  'not  knowing  at  the  time  who  it 
was,'  since,  if  justly  described,  most  assuredly  it  was  not  General 
WASHINGTON." — ED. 


APPENDIX.  457 


PAGE  320. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  MONMOUTH. 

The  Editor  is  indebted  to  Mr.  Sparks'  edition  of  the  "  Life 
and  Writings  of  Washington,"  for  the  following  interesting  par 
ticulars  concerning  General  CHARLES  LEE,  and  the  Battle  of 
M onmouth : — 

"  Soon  after  General  Lee  rejoined  the  army  at  Valley  Forge, 
a  curious  incident  occurred.  By  an  order  of  Congress,  General 
Washington  was  required  to  administer  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  general  officers.  The  Major-Generals  stood  around 
Washington,  and  took  hold  of  a  Bible  together,  according  to  the 
usual  custom ;  but,  just  as  he  began  to  administer  the  oath,  Lee 
deliberately  withdrew  his  hand  twice.  This  movement  was  so 
singular,  and  was  performed  in  so  odd  a  manner,  that  the  offi 
cers  smiled,  and  Washington  inquired  the  meaning  of  his  hesi 
tancy.  Lee  replied,  *  As  to  King  George,  I  am  ready  enough 
to  absolve  myself  from  all  allegiance  to  him,  but  I  have  some 
scruples  about  the  Prince  of  Wales.'  The  strangeness  of  this 
reply  was  such,  that  the  officers  burst  into  a  broad  laugh, 
and  even  Washington  could  not  refrain  from  a  smile.  The 
ceremony  was  of  course  interrupted.  It  was  renewed  as  soon 
as  a  composure  was  restored  proper  for  the  solemnity  of  the 
occasion,  and  Lee  took  the  oath  with  the  other  officers.  Con 
nected  with  the  subsequent  conduct  of  General  Lee,  this  incident 
was  thought  by  some,  who  were  acquainted  with  it,  to  have  a 
deeper  meaning  than  at  first  appeared,  and  to  indicate  a  less 
ardent  and  fixed  patriotism  towards  the  United  States,  than  was 
consistent  with  the  rank  and  professions  of  the  second  officer  in 
command  of  the  American  forces. 

"  The  army  having  crossed  the  Delaware  in  pursuit  of  the 
39 


458 


APPENDIX. 


British  retreating  from  Philadelphia,  a  council  of  war  was  held 
at  Hopewell,  June  24th,  in  which,  after  stating  the  relative 
strength  and  position  of  the  two  armies,  the  Commander-in- 
chief  proposed  the  following  questions. 

"'Will  it  be  advisable  for  us,  of  choice,  to  hazard  a  general 
action  ?  If  it  is,  should  we  do  it  by  immediately  making  a 
general  attack  upon  the  enemy,  by  attempting  a  partial  one,  or 
by  taking  such  a  position,  if  it  can  be  done,  as  may  oblige  them 
to  attack  us  ?  If  it  is  not,  what  measures  can  be  taken,  with 
safety  to  this  army,  to  annoy  the  enemy  in  their  march  ?  In 
fine,  what  precise  line  of  conduct  will  it  be  advisable  for  us  to 
pursue  V 

11  Lee  was  strenuously  opposed  to  a  general  action.  Being 
the  highest  in  rank,  and  an  officer  of  great  experience,  the 
younger  officers  were  much  influenced  by  his  arguments  and 
opinions.  The  council  finally  decided  that  a  general  action 
was  not  advisable,  but  that  '  a  detachment  of  fifteen  hundred 
men  be  immediately  sent  to  act,  as  occasion  may  serve,  on  the 
enemy's  left  flank  and  rear,  in  conjunction  with  the  other  Con 
tinental  troops  and  militia,  who  are  already  hanging  about 
them,  and  that  the  main  body  preserve  a  relative  position,  so  as 
to  be  able  to  act  as  circumstances  may  require/  This  decision 
was  signed  by  all  the  officers  except  Wayne.  It  appeared, 
however,  that  there  was  a  wide  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the 
number  of  men,  that  ought  to  be  sent  against  the  enemy, 
although  the  council  ultimately  agreed  on  fifteen  hundred.  Lee, 
Stirling,  Woodford,  Scott,  Knox,  and  Poor,  were  for  this  num 
ber  ;  but  Steuben,  Duportail,  Wayne,  Patterson,  Greene,  and 
Lafayette  were  for  twenty-five  hundred,  or  at  least  two  thousand. 
It  was  the  idea  of  some  of  the  officers,  also,  that  the  detachment 
ought  to  attack  the  enemy,  though  not  to  bring  on  a  general 
action ;  while  others  believed,  that  nothing  more  should  be  done, 
than  to  skirmish  with  the  out-guards,  and  thus  harass  the  re 
treating  enemy  as  circumstances  would  permit. 

"After  the  council  was  dissolved,  Greene,  Lafayette,  and 
Wayne,  wrote  separately  to  the  Commander-in-chief,  explaining 
more  fully  their  views.  They  were  not  for  pushing  the  enemy 
to  a  general  action  at  all  events ;  but  they  were  decidedly  of 


APPENDIX. 

opinion,  that  a  large  detachment  should  be  sent  forward  to 
attack  their  rear,  and  that  the  main  army  should  be  drawn  into 
such  a  position  as  to  commence  an  engagement,  should  the 
prospects  be  favourable.  These  views  accorded  with  those  of 
the  Commander-in-chief,  and  he  promptly  determined  to  act  in 
conformity  with  them. 

From  General  Lee's  rank  the  advanced  detachment  fell  under 
his  command,  although  he  was  totally  opposed  to  the  measure 
adopted.  Lafayette  went  to  Washington,  reminded  him  of  this 
embarrassment,  and  offered  to  take  command  of  the  attacking 
division.  Washington  said,  that  such  an  arrangement  would 
be  entirely  agreeable  to  him,  but  that  it  could  not  be  effected 
without  the  previous  consent  of  General  Lee.  When  Lafayette 
applied  to  Lee,  he  very  readily  assented,  saying  that  he  disap 
proved  of  the  plans  of  the  Commander-in-chief,  that  he  was 
sure  they  would  fail,  and  that  he  was  willing  to  be  relieved 
from  any  responsibility  in  carrying  them  into  execution.  La 
fayette  immediately  took  command  of  his  division  and  marched 
towards  the  enemy.  After  reflecting  upon  the  matter,  Lee 
wrote  to  General  Washington  as  follows. 


GENERAL  LEE  TO  GENERAL  WASHINGTON. 

"Camp  at  Kingston,  25th  June,  1778. 
"  DEAR  GENERAL, 

"When  I  first  assented  to  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette's  taking 
the  command  of  the  present  detachment,  I  confess  I  viewed  it 
in  a  very  different  light  from  that  in  which  I  view  it  at  present. 
I  considered  it  as  a  more  proper  business  of  a  young,  volun 
teering  general,  than  of  the  second  in  command  in  the  army ; 
but  I  find  it  is  considered  in  a  different  manner.  They  say  that 
a  corps  consisting  of  six  thousand  men,  the  greater  part  chosen, 
is  undoubtedly  the  most  honourable  command  next  to  the  Com 
mander-in-chief;  that  my  ceding  it  would  of  course  have  an 
odd  appearance.  I  must  entreat,  therefore,  after  making  a 
thousand  apologies  for  the  trouble  my  rash  assent  has  occa 
sioned  you,  that,  if  this  detachment  does  march,  I  may  have 


460  APPENDIX. 

the  command  of  it.  So  far  personally;  but,  to  speak  as  an 
officer,  I  do  not  think  that  this  detachment  ought  to  march  at 
all,  until  at  least  the  head  of  the  enemy's  right  column  has 
passed  Cranberry ;  then,  if  it  is  necessary  to  march  the  whole 
army,  1  cannot  see  any  impropriety  in  the  Marquis's  command 
ing  this  detachment,  or  a  greater,  as  an  advanced  guard  of  the 
army ;  but  if  this  detachment,  with  Maxwell's  corps,  Scott's, 
Morgan's,  and  Jackson's,  is  to  be  considered  as  a  separate, 
chosen,  active  corps,  and  put  under  the  Marquis's  command 
until  the  enemy  leave  the  Jerseys,  both  myself  and  Lord  Stirling 
will  be  disgraced.  I  am,  dear  General,  yours,  &c. 

"  CHARLES  LEE." 

As  Washington  had  already  given  the  command  to  the 
Marquis,  it  could  not  with  propriety  be  withdrawn  without  his 
consent.  Lee  applied  to  him  for  the  purpose,  but  the  Marquis 
said  he  could  not  without  great  reluctance  give  up  the  com 
mand  ;  that  it  had  been  yielded  to  him  freely,  and  he  was  par 
ticularly  desirous  of  retaining  it.  This  was  on  the  second  day 
before  the  battle,  and  there  was  a  prospect  that  the  enemy 
would  be  overtaken  during  the  day.  After  Lee  had  urged  the 
point,  and  appealed  to  the  generosity  and  magnanimity  of  the 
Marquis,  the  latter  at  length  agreed  that  if  he  did  not  come  up 
with  the  enemy  so  as  to  make  an  attack  that  day,  he  would 
then  resign  the  command.  Lee  had  already  been  detached 
with  a  smaller  division,  but  was  instructed  not  to  interfere  with 
the  Marquis,  if  he  had  concerted  any  definite  plan  of  attacking 
the  enemy.  The  day  passed  over  without  coming  to  an  action, 
and  late  at  night  Lafayette  wrote  a  note  to  Lee  resigning  the 
command.  The  result,  in  regard  to  General  Lee,  is  well  known. 
The  battle  took  place  the  next  day,  in  the  midst  of  which  Lee 
retreated,  contrary  to  the  expectations  of  the  Commander-in- 
chief,  and  in  such  a  manner  as  to  threaten  the  most  serious 
consequences  to  the  army.  He  was  met  by  Washington  while 
retreating,  and  was  addressed  by  him  in  a  tone  of  reprimand 
and  censure,  which  wounded  the  pride  of  Lee,  and  gave  rise  to 
the  following  correspondence. 


APPENDIX.  461 

GENERAL  LEE  TO  GENERAL  WASHINGTON. 

"Camp,  English  Town,  1  July  [29  June?],  1778. 
"  SIR, 

"  From  the  knowledge  I  have  of  your  Excellency's  character, 
I  must  conclude  that  nothing  but  the  misinformation  of  some 
very  stupid,  or  misrepresentation  of  some  very  wicked  person, 
could  have  occasioned  your  making  use  of  so  very  singular  ex 
pressions  as  you  did  on  my  coming  up  to  the  ground  where  you 
had  taken  post.  They  implied  that  I  was  guilty  either  of  dis 
obedience  of  orders,  want  of  conduct,  or  want  of  courage. 
Your  Excellency  will  therefore  infinitely  oblige  me,  by  letting 
me  know  on  which  of  these  three  articles  you  ground  your 
charge,  that  I  may  prepare  for  my  justification,  which  I  have 
the  happiness  to  be  confident  I  can  do  to  the  army,  to  the  Con 
gress,  to  America,  and  to  the  world  in  general.  Your  Excel 
lency  must  give  me  leave  to  observe,  that  neither  yourself,  nor 
those  about  your  person,  could  from  your  situation  be  in  the 
least  judges  of  the  merits  or  demerits  of  our  manoeuvres ;  and, 
to  speak  with  a  becoming  pride,  I  can  assert  that  to  these 
manoeuvres  the  success  of  the  day  was  entirely  owing.  I  can 
boldly  say,  that  had  we  remained  on  the  first  ground,  or  had 
we  advanced,  or  had  the  retreat  been  conducted  in  a  manner 
different  from  what  it  was,  this  whole  army  and  the  interests  of 
America  would  have  risked  being  sacrificed.  I  ever  had,  and 
hope  ever  shall  have,  the  greatest  respect  and  veneration  for 
General  Washington.  I  think  him  endowed  with  many  great 
and  good  qualities ;  but  in  this  instance  I  must  pronounce,  that 
he  has  been  guilty  of  an  act  of  cruel  injustice  towards  a  man, 
who  certainly  has  some  pretensions  to  the  regard  of  every 
servant  of  this  country.  And  I  think,  Sir,  I  have  a  right  to 
demand  some  reparation  for  the  injury  committed;  and,  unless 
I  can  obtain  it,  I  must,  in  justice  to  myself,  when  this  campaign 
is  closed,  which  I  believe  will  close  the  war,  retire  from  a  ser 
vice  at  the  head  of  which  is  placed  a  man  capable  of  offering 
such  injuries.  But  at  the  same  time,  in  justice  to  you,  I  must 

39* 


462  APPENDIX. 

repeat  that  I  from  my  soul  believe,  that  it  was  not  a  motion  of 
your  own  breast,  but  instigated  by  some  of  those  dirty  earwigs, 
who  will  for  ever  insinuate  themselves  near  persons  in  high 
office ;  for  I  really  am  convinced,  that  when  General  Washing 
ton  acts  from  himself,  no  man  in  his  army  will  have  reason  to 
complain  of  injustice  or  indecorum.  I  am,  Sir,  and  hope  I 
ever  shall  have  reason  to  continue,  your  most  sincerely  devoted 
humble  servant. 

"  CHARLES  LEE." 


GENERAL  WASHINGTON  TO  GENERAL  LEE. 

"Head-Quarters,  English  Town,  30  June,  1778. 
«  SlR, 

"I  received  your  letter  (dated  through  mistake  the  1st  of 
July),  expressed  as  I  conceive  in  terms  highly  improper.  I  am 
not  conscious  of  having  made  use  of  any  very  singular  expres 
sions  at  the  time  of  meeting  you,  as  you  intimate.  What  I  re 
collect  to  have  said  was  dictated  by  duty,  and  warranted  by 
the  occasion.  As  soon  as  circumstances  will  permit,  you  shall 
have  an  opportunity  of  justifying  yourself  to  the  army,  to  Con 
gress,  to  America,  and  to  the  world  in  general,  or  of  convincing 
them  that  you  were  guilty  of  a  breach  of  orders,  and  of  misbe 
haviour  before  the  enemy,  on  the  28th  instant,  in  not  attacking 
them  as  you  had  been  directed,  and  in  making  an  unnecessary, 
disorderly,  and  shameful  retreat.  I  am,  Sir,  your  most  obedient 
servant. 

"  GEORGE  WASHINGTON." 


GENERAL  LEE  TO  GENERAL  WASHINGTON. 

"Camp  28  [30  ?J  June,  1778.* 
"  SIR, 

"  I  beg  your  Excellency's  pardon  for  the  inaccuracy  in  mis- 

*  This  letter  in  the  original  is  dated  June  28th,  which  is  evidently  a  mistake, 
because  that  was  the  day  of  the  battle ;  and  moreover  it  must  have  been  written 
after  the  preceding  one  from  General  Washington  to  which  it  is  an  answer. 
Hence  both  of  General  Lee's  offensive  letters  were  erroneously  dated. 


APPENDIX.  463 

dating  my  letter.  You  cannot  afford  me  greater  pleasure,  than 
in  giving  me  the  opportunity  of  showing  to  America  the  suffi 
ciency  of  her  respective  servants.  I  trust  that  temporary  power 
of  office,  and  the  tinsel  dignity  attending  it,  will  not  be  able,  by 
all  the  mists  they  can  raise,  to  offuscate  the  bright  rays  of  truth. 
In  the  mean  time  your  Excellency  can  have  no  objection  to 
my  retiring  from  the  army.  I  am,  Sir,  your  most  obedient 
humble  servant. 

"  CHARLES  L,EE'4. 


GENERAL  LEE  TO  GENERAL  WASHINGTON. 

"Camp,  30  June,  1778. 
"  SIR, 

"  Since  I  had  the  honour  of  addressing  my  letter  by  Colonel 
Fitzgerald  to  your  Excellency,  I  have  reflected  on  both  your 
situation  and  mine,  and  beg  leave  to  observe,  that  it  will  be  for 
our  mutual  convenience  that  a  court  of  inquiry  should  be  imme 
diately  ordered ;  but  I  could  wish  that  it  might  be  a  court- 
martial  ;  for,  if  the  affair  is  drawn  into  length,  it  may  be  diffi 
cult  to  collect  the  necessary  evidences,  and  perhaps  might  bring 
on  a  paper  war  betwixt  the  adherents  to  both  parties,  which 
may  occasion  some  disagreeable  feuds  on  the  continent ;  for  all 
are  not  my  friends,  nor  all  your  admirers.  I  must  entreat  there 
fore,  from  your  love  of  justice,  that  you  will  immediately  ex 
hibit  your  charge,  and  that  on  the  first  halt  I  may  be  brought 
to  a  trial ;  and  am,  Sir,  your  most  obedient  humble  servant. 

"  CHARLES  LEE." 


GENERAL  WASHINGTON  TO  GENERAL  LEE. 

"  Head-Quarters,  English  Town,  30  June,  1778. 
"  SIR, 

"  Your  letter  by  Colonel  Fitzgerald  and  also  one  of  this  date 
have  been  duly  received.  I  have  sent  Colonel  Scammell,  the 
Adjutant-General,  to  put  you  in  arrest,  who  will  deliver  you  a 


464  APPENDIX. 

copy  of  the  charges  on  which  you  will  be  tried.     I  am,  Sir, 
your  most  obedient  servant. 

"  GEORGE  WASHINGTON." 


CHARGES  AGAINST  GENERAL  LEE. 

"  First ;  Disobedience  of  orders  in  not  attacking  the  enemy 
on  the  28th  of  June,  agreeably  to  repeated  instructions. 

"  Secondly ;  Misbehaviour  before  the  enemy  on  the  same  day, 
by  making  an  unnecessary,  disorderly,  and  shameful  retreat. 

"Thirdly;  Disrespect  to  the  Commander-in-chief,  in  two 
letters  dated  the  1st  of  July  and  the  28th  of  June." 

The  court-martial  was  convened  on  the  4th  of  July,  consist 
ing  of  one  major-general,  four  brigadiers,  and  eight  colonels. 
Lord  Stirling  was  president.  The  court  sat  from  time  to  time 
till  the  12th  of  August,  when  they  declared  their  opinion,  that 
General  Lee  was  guilty  of  all  the  charges,  and  sentenced  him 
to  be  suspended  from  any  command  in  the  armies  of  the  United 
States  for  the  term  of  twelve  months.  The  testimony  of  the 
trial  was  extremely  full,  and  it  exhibits  a  minute  detail  of  the 
operations  in  the  battle  of  Monmouth.  Congress  approved  the 
sentence  of  the  court-martial,  by  a  vote  of  thirteen  in  the 
affirmative  and  seven  in  the  negative,  and  ordered  the  Proceed 
ings  of  the  court  to  be  published. — ED. 


M. 

PAGE  322. 

WASHINGTON  AND  LEE. 

The  following  letters  and  notes  respecting  the  publications 
of  General  LEE,  are  taken  from  the  6th  vol.  of  the  "  Life  and 
Writings  of  Washington,"  edited  by  Mr.  SPARKS  : — 


APPENDIX. 


465 


"  General  Lee's  publication  in  Dunlap's  Gazette  of  the  3d, 
and  I  have  seen  no  other,  puts  me  in  a  disagreeable  situation.* 
I  have  neither  the  leisure  nor  inclination  to  enter  the  lists  with 
him  in  a  newspaper;  and  so  far  as  his  production  points  to 
personality,  I  can  and  do  from  my  inmost  soul  despise  it ;  but, 
when  he  has  most  barefacedly  misrepresented  facts  in  some 
places,  and  thrown  out  insinuations  in  others,  that  have  not  the 
smallest  foundations  in  truth,  not  to  attempt  a  refutation  is  a 
tacit  acknowledgment  of  the  justice  of  the  assertions;  for, 
though  there  are  thousands  who  know  how  unsupported  his 
piece  is,  there  are  yet  tens  of  thousands  that  know  nothing  of 
the  matter,  and  will  be  led  naturally  to  believe,  that  bold  and 
confident  assertions  uncontradicted  must  be  founded  in  truth. 

"It  became  a  part  of  General  Lee's  plan, from  the  moment  of 
his  arrest,  though  it  was  an  event  solicited  by  himself,  to  have 
the  world  believe  that  he  was  a  persecuted  man,  and  party 
was  at  the  bottom  of  it.  But  however  convenient  it  may  have 
been  for  his  purposes  to  establish  this  belief,  I  defy  him,  or  his 
most  zealous  partisans,  to  adduce  a  single  instance  in  proof  of 
it,  unless  bringing  him  to  trial,  at  his  own  request,  is  consi 
dered  in  this  light.  I  can  do  more;  I  will  defy  any  person  out 
of  my  own  family,  to  say  that  I  have  ever  mentioned  his  name, 
if  it  was  to  be  avoided ;  and,  when  not,  that  I  have  not  stu 
diously  declined  expressing  any  sentiment  of  him  or  his  beha- 
vour.  How  far  this  conduct  accords  with  his,  let  his  own 
breast  decide.  If  he  conceives  that  I  was  opposed  to  him, 
because  he  found  himself  disposed  to  enter  into  a  party  against 
me;  if  he  thought  I  stood  in  his  road  to  preferment,  and 
that  it  was  therefore  convenient  to  lessen  me  in  the  esteem  of 
my  countrymen,  in  order  to  pave  the  way  for  his  own  ad 
vancement,  I  have  only  to  observe,  that,  as  I  never  entertained 
any  jealousy  of  him,  so  neither  did  I  ever  do  more,  than  common 
civility  and  proper  respect  to  his  rank  required,  to  conciliate 
his  good  opinion.  His  temper  and  plans  were  too  versatile 

*  This  was  a  long  and  elaborate  article,  signed  by  General  LEE,  and  containing 
a  free  discussion  of  the  affair  at  Monmouth,  and  of  some  points  relating  to  his 
trial.  Boastful  and  egotistic,  it  met  with  little  favour  from  any  party.  It  was 
reprinted  in  Rivingtori's  Gazette. 


466 


APPENDIX. 


and  violent  to  attract  my  admiration ;  and  that  I  have  escaped 
the  venom  of  his  tongue  and  pen  so  long,  is  more  to  be  won 
dered  at  than  applauded ;  as  it  is  a  favour  of  which  no  officer, 
under  whose  immediate  command  he  ever  served,  has  the  hap 
piness,  if  happiness  can  thus  be  denominated,  of  boasting." 

TO  PRESIDENT  REED. 

"West  Point,  29th  July,  1779. 
"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  have  a  pleasure  in  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  your 
obliging  favour  of  the  15th  instant,  and  in  finding  by  it,  that 
the  author  of  the  Queries  Political  and  Military*  has  had  no 

*  These  Queries  were  written  by  General  CHARLES  LEE,  and  printed  anony. 
mously  in  the  MARYLAND  JOURNAL,  a  paper  published  by  WILLIAM  GODDARD,  a 
friend  of  General  LEE.  The  Queries  were  penned  in  a  very  malignant  spirit, 
and  were  designed  to  injure  General  WASHINGTON,  as  far  as  it  could  be  done  by 
such  an  effusion  of  spleen  and  ill-temper.  The  following  are  specimens : 

"Whether  it  is  salutary  or  dangerous,  consistent  with  or  abhorrent  from  the 
spirit  and  principles  of  liberty  and  republicanism,  to  inculcate  and  encourage  in 
the  people  an  idea,  that  their  welfare,  safety,  and  glory  depend  on  one  man? 
Whether  they  really  do  depend  on  one  man  ? 

"  Whether  amongst  the  late  warm,  or  rather  loyal  addresses  of  this  city  (Phila 
delphia)  to  his  Excellency  General  WASHINGTON,  there  was  a  single  mortal,  one 
gentleman  only  excepted,  who  could  possibly  be  acquainted  with  his  merits  ? 

"Whether  the  gentleman  excepted  does  really  think  his  Excellency  a  great  man, 
or  whether  evidences  could  not  be  produced  of  his  thinking  quite  the  reverse? 

"Whether  the  armies  under  GATES  and  ARNOLD,  and  the  detachment  under 
STARK  to  the  northward,  or  that  immediately  under  his  Excellency  in  Pennsyl 
vania,  gave  the  decisive  turn  to  the  fortune  of  war  ?" 

There  were  twenty-five  queries  of  a  similar  tenor  and  bearing.  The  "  gentle. 
man"  here  referred  to  was  President  REED,  who  wrote  to  WASHINGTON,  when  he 
forwarded  to  him  a  copy  of  the  Queries :  "  I  should  not  have  troubled  you  with 
the  enclosed  paper,  if  I  did  not  know  that  you  can  look  down  with  contempt  on 
these  feeble  efforts  of  malevolence  and  resentment,  and  that  I  am  introduced  into 
it  to  bear  false  witness.  I  have  addressed  a  piece  to  the  printer,  wherein  I  have 
made  such  remarks  and  taken  such  a  notice  of  this  attempt,  as  I  thought  a  respect 
to  my  own  character  required.  I  have  also  the  pleasure  of  assuring  you,  that  the 
performance  has  met  with  the  most  general  detestation  and  resentment,  involving 
the  printer  and  all  concerned  in  a  most  disagreeable  dilemma.  This  is  so  true  a 
criterion  of  the  sense  of  the  public,  that  I  cannot  help  congratulating  you  on  this 
genuine  mark  of  public  affection." — MS.  Letter,  July  1 5th. 

Much  indignation  was  expressed  against  GODDARD  when  the  Queries  appeared 


APPENDIX.  467 

great  cause  to  exult  in  the  favourable  reception  of  them  by  the 
public.  Without  a  clue,  I  should  have  been  at  no  great  loss  to 
trace  the  malevolent  writer ;  but  I  have  seen  a  history  of  the 
transaction,  and  felt  a  pleasure  mingled  with  pain  at  the  narra 
tion.  To  stand  well  in  the  estimation  of  one's  country  is  a 
happiness  that  no  rational  creature  can  be  insensible  of.  To 
be  pursued,  first  under  the  mask  of  friendship,  and,  when  dis 
guise  would  suit  no  longer,  as  an  open  calumniator,  with  gross 
misrepresentation  and  self-known  falsehoods,  carries  an  alloy, 
which  no  mind  can  bear  with  perfect  composure. 

"  The  motives  which  actuated  this  gentleman,  can  better  be 
accounted  for  by  himself  than  by  me.  If  he  can  produce  a 
single  instance,  in  which  I  have  mentioned  his  name,  after 
his  trial  commenced,  where  it  was  in  my  power  to  avoid  it, 
and,  when  it  wras  not,  where  I  have  done  it  with  the  smallest 
degree  of  acrimony  or  disrespect,  I  will  consent  that  the  world 
shall  view  my  character  in  as  disreputable  a  light,  as  he  wishes 
to  place  it.  What  cause  there  is,  then,  for  such  a  profusion  of 
venom,  as  he  is  emitting  upon  all  occasions,  unless  by  an  act 
of  public  duty,  in  bringing  him  to  trial  at  his  own  solicitation, 
I  have  disappointed  him  and  raised  his  ire ;  or  he  conceives 
that,  in  proportion  as  he  can  darken  the  shades  of  my  charac 
ter,  he  illuminates  his  own;  whether  these,  I  say,  or  motives 
still  more  hidden  and  dark,  govern  him,  I  shall  not  undertake 
to  decide ;  nor  have  I  time  to  inquire  into  them  at  present. 

"  If  I  had  ever  assumed  the  character  of  a  military  genius 
and  an  officer  of  experience ;  if,  under  these  false  colours,  I 
had  solicited  the  command  I  was  honoured  with;  or  if,  after 
my  appointment,  I  had  presumptuously  driven  on,  under  the 
sole  guidance  of  my  own  judgment  and  self-will,  and  misfor 
tunes,  the  result  of  obstinacy  and  misconduct,  not  of  necessity, 
had  followed,  I  should  have  thought  myself  a  proper  subject 

in  his  paper.  A  large  number  of  the  most  respectable  citizens  of  Baltimore  with 
drew  their  patronage  from  the  Maryland  Journal,  publicly  avowing  as  a  reason, 
that  they  considered  it  subservient  to  the  interests  of  the  enemy.  Mr.  GODDARD 
published  a  recantation,  in  which  he  acknowledged,  that  "  he  had  transgressed 
against  truth,  justice,  and  his  duty  as  a  good  citizen,"  in  giving  currency  to  the 
Queries,  and  at  the  same  time  declared  the  author  of  them  to  be  General  LEE. 


468  APPENDIX. 

for  the  lash,  not  only  of  his,  but  of  the  pen  of  every  other 
writer,  and  a  fit  object  for  public  resentment.  But  when  it 
is  well  known,  that  the  command  was  in  a  manner  forced 
upon  me,  that  I  accepted  it  with  the  utmost  diffidence,  from 
a  consciousness  that  it  required  greater  abilities  and  more 
experience  than  I  possessed,  to  conduct  a  great  military  ma 
chine,  embarrassed  as  I  knew  ours  must  be  by  a  variety  of 
complex  circumstances,  being  as  it  were  but  little  more  than  a 
mere  chaos ;  and  when  nothing  more  was  promised  on  my 
part,  than  has  been  most  inviolably  performed;  it  is  rather 
grating  to  pass  over  in  silence  charges,  which  may  impress 
the  uninformed,  though  others  know,  that  these  charges  have 
neither  reason  nor  truth  to  support  them,  and  that  a  plain  and 
simple  narrative  of  facts  would  defeat  all  his  assertions,  not 
withstanding  they  are  made  with  an  effrontery,  which  few  men 
do,  and,  for  the  honour  of  human  nature,  none  ought  to  possess. 
"  If  this  gentleman  is  envious  of  my  station,  and  thinks  I  stand 
in  his  way  to  preferment,  I  can  assure  him,  in  most  solemn 
terms,  that  the  first  wish  of  my  soul  is  to  return  to  that  peaceful 
retirement,  and  domestic  ease  and  happiness,  from  whence  I 
came.  To  this  end  all  my  labours  have  been  directed,  and  for 
this  purpose  have  I  been  more  than  four  years  a  perfect  slave, 
endeavouring  under  as  many  embarrassing  circumstances  as 
ever  fell  to  one  man's  lot  to  encounter,  and  with  as  pure  mo 
tives  as  ever  man  was  influenced  by,  to  promote  the  cause  and 
service  I  had  embarked  in." — ED. 


N. 

PAGE  322. 

MISS  FRANKS  AND  GENERAL  C.  LEE. 

Miss  Franks,  in  throwing  the  pointed  shafts  of  her  wit,  spared 
neither  friend  nor  foe.     At  the  Mischeanza,  given  at  Philadel- 


APPENDIX.  469 

phia  by  the  officers  of  the  British  army  to  Sir  William  Howe, 
previously  to  his  relinquishment  of  command,  Miss  Franks 
appeared  as  one  of  the  Princesses,  in  supporting  whose  claims 
to  superior  beauty  and  accomplishment,  the  assembled  Knights 
were  to  contend  at  a  tournament  exhibited.  The  evacuation  of 
the  city  immediately  following,  Miss  Franks  remained  -behind. 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Jack  Steward  of  Maryland,  whose  previous 
intimacy  with  her  could  alone  justify  the  familiarity  of  his  con 
duct,  dressed  out  in  a  handsome  suit  of  scarlet,  taking  an  early 
occasion  to  pay  his  compliments,  said  to  her  in  the  true  spirit 
of  gallantry,  "  I  have  adopted  your  colours,  my  Princess,  the 
better  to  secure  a  courteous  reception — deign  to  smile  on  a  true 
Knight."  To  this  speech  Miss  Franks  made  no  reply;  but 
turning  to  the  company  who  surrounded  her,  exclaimed — "  How 
the  ass  glories  in  the  lion's  skin." 

Nor  was  this  the  only  rub  experienced  by  the  Lieutenant- 
Colonel.  While  the  company  were  enjoying  themselves  in 
lively  conversation,  their  mirth  was  interrupted  by  loud  clamours 
from  the  street,  which  occasioned  them  to  hasten  to  the  win 
dows,  the  better  to  ascertain  the  cause.  High  head-dresses 
were  then  the  reigning  fashion  among  the  British  belles.  A 
female  appeared  on  the  street,  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  idlers, 
ragged  in  her  apparel,  and  barefoot,  but  adorned  with  a  tower 
ing  head-dress  in  the  extreme  of  the  mode.  Miss  Franks 
readily  perceived  the  intent  of  this  tumultuous  visit ;  and  on  the 
Lieutenant-Colonel's  observing,  that  the  lady  was  equipped  alto 
gether  in  the  English  fashion,  replied,  "  Not  altogether,  Colonel  ; 
for  though  the  style  of  her  head  is  British,  her  shoes  and  stock 
ings  are  in  the  genuine  Continental  fashion." 

During  an  interval  of  dancing,  at  a  splendid  ball  given  by  the 
officers  of  the  army,  to  the  ladies  of  New  York,  Sir  Henry 
Clinton,  having  previously  engaged  in  conversation  with  Miss 
Franks,  called  out  to  the  musicians,  "  Give  us,  *  Britons  strike 
home.'"  "  The  Commander-in-Chief  has  made  a  mistake,"  ex 
claimed  Miss  Franks,  "he  meant  to  say,  Britons— go  home." 

There  were  very  few  men  qualified  to  enter  the  lists  with  this 
intelligent  lady — for  her  information  was  extensive,  and  she  had 
wit  at  will.     She  did,  however,  on  one  occasion,  meet  a  supe- 
40 


470  APPENDIX. 

rior,  and  appeared  bereft  of  her  brilliancy  of  talent,  by  receiving 
with  anger,  what  was  only  intended  as  a  sally  to  excite  merri 
ment.  I  allude  to  her  correspondence  with  General  Charles 
Lee,  whose  letter  is  but  little  known,  and  certainly  possesses  a 
stamp  of  humour  that  renders  it  worthy  to  be  preserved. 


"  MADAM, 

"  When  an  officer  of  the  respectable  rank  I  bear,  is  grossly 
traduced  and  calumniated,  it  is  incumbent  on  him  to  clear  up 
the  affair  to  the  world,  with  as  little  delay  as  possible.  The 
spirit  of  defamation  and  calumny  (I  am  sorry  to  say  it)  is 
grown  to  a  prodigious  and  intolerable  height  on  this  Continent. 
If  you  had  accused  me  of  a  design  to  procrastinate  the  war,  or 
of  holding  treasonable  correspondence  with  the  enemy,  I  could 
have  borne  it :  this  I  am  used  to ;  and  this  happened  to  the  great 
FABIUS  MAXIMUS.  If  you  had  accused  me  of  getting  drunk,  as 
often  as  I  could  get  liquor,  as  two  ALEXANDERS  the  Great  have 
been  charged  with  the  vice,  I  should  perhaps  have  sat  patient 
under  the  imputation ;  or  even  if  you  had  given  the  plainest 
hints,  that  I  had  stolen  the  soldier's  shirts,  this  I  could  have  put 
up  with,  as  the  great  Duke  of  MARLBOROUGH  would  have  been 
an  example :  or  if  you  had  contented  yourself  with  asserting 
that  I  was  so  abominable  a  sloven,  as  never  to  part  with  my 
shirt,  until  my  shirt  parted  with  me,  the  anecdotes  of  my  illus 
trious  namesake  of  Sweden*  would  have  administered  some 
comfort  to  me.  But  the  calumny  you  have,  in  the  fertility  of 
your  malicious  wit,  chosen  to  invent,  is  of  so  new,  so  unprece 
dented,  and  so  hellish  a  kind,  as  would  make  Job  himself  swear 
like  a  Virginia  Colonel. 

"  Is  it  possible  that  the  celebrated  Miss  FRANKS^  a  lady  who 
has  had  every  human  and  divine  advantage,  who  has  read,  (or 
at  least  might  have  read)  in  the  originals,  the  New  and  Old 

*  Charles  XII.  t  The  young  lady  was  a  Jewess, 


APPENDIX.  471 

Testaments,  (though  I  am  afraid  she  too  seldom  looks  even  into 
the  translations)  I  say,  is  it  possihle  that  Miss  FRANKS,  with 
every  human  and  Divine  advantage,  who  might,  and  ought  to 
have  read  these  two  good  books,  which  (an  old  Welsh  nurse, 
whose  uncle  was  reckoned  the  best  preacher  in  Merionethshire, 
assured  me)  enjoin  charity,  and  denounce  vengeance  against 
slander  and  evil-speaking ;  is  it  possible,  I  again  repeat  it,  that 
Miss  FRANKS  should,  in  the  face  of  day,  carry  her  malignity  so 
far,  in  the  presence  of  three  most  respectable  personages ;  (one 
of  the  oldest  religion  in  the  world,  one  of  the  newest,  for  he  is 
a  New-Light  Man,  and  the  other,  most  probably,  of  no  religion 
at  all,  as  he  is  an  English  sailor)  but  I  demand  it  again  and 
again,  is  it  possible  that  Miss  FRANKS  should  assert  it,  in  the 
presence  of  these  respectable  personages,  '  that  I  wore  green 
breeches  patched  with  leather  ?'  To  convict  you,  therefore,  of 
the  falsehood  of  this  most  diabolical  slander,  to  put  you  to  eternal 
silence,  (if  you  are  not  past  all  grace)  and  to  cover  you  with  a 
much  larger  patch  of  infamy  than  you  have  wantonly  endea 
voured  to  fix  on  my  breeches,  I  have  thought  proper,  by  the 
advice  of  three  very  grave  friends,  (lawyers  and  members  of 
Congress,  of  course  excellent  judges  of  delicate  points  of  honour) 
to  send  you  the  said  breeches,  and  with  the  consciousness  of 
truth  on  my  side,  to  submit  them  to  the  most  severe  inspection 
and  scrutiny  of  you,  and  all  those  who  may  have  entered  into 
this  wicked  cabal,  against  my  honour  and  reputation.  I  say  I 
dare  you,  and  your  whole  junto,  to  your  worst :  turn  them, 
examine  them  inside  and  outside,  and  if  you  find  them  to  be 
green  breeches  patched  with  leather,  and  not  actually  legitimate 
Sherry  V  allies,*  such  as  his  Majesty  of  Poland  wears,  (who,  let 
me  tell  you,  is  a  man  who  has  made  more  fashions  than  all 
your  knights  of  the  Mischeanzaf  put  together,  notwithstanding 
their  beauties)  I  repeat  it,  (though  I  am  almost  out  of  breath 
with  repetitions  and  parentheses)  that  if  those  are  proved  to  be 

*  A  kind  of  long  breeches,  reaching  to  the  ankle,  with  a  broad  stripe  of  leather 
on  the  inside  of  the  thigh,  for  the  corivenicncy  of  riding. 

t  An  entertainment  given  to  General  Howe,  just  before  his  departure  for  Europe, 
at  which  were  introduced  tilts  and  tournaments  in  honour  of  the  ladies,  of  whom 
JViiss  Franks  vras  one. 


472  APPENDIX. 

patched  green  breeches,  and  not  legitimate  Sherry  Vallies 
(which  a  man  of  the  first  bon  ton  might  be  proud  of)  I  will  sub 
mit  in  silence  to  all  the  scurrility  which  I  have  no  doubt  you 
and  your  abettors  are  prepared  to  pour  out  against  me,  in  the 
public  papers,  on  this  important  and  interesting  occasion.  But 
Madam  !  Madam !  reputation,  (as  '  Common  Sense'  very  sensi 
bly,  though  not  very  uncommonly,  observes)  is  a  very  serious 
thing.  You  have  already  injured  me  in  the  tenderest  part,  and 
I  demand  satisfaction  ;  and  as  you  cannot  be  ignorant  of  the 
laws  of  duelling,  having  conversed  with  so  many  Irish  officers, 
whose  favourite  topic  it  is,  particularly  in  the  company  of 
ladies,  I  insist  on  the  privilege  of  the  injured  party,  which  is  to 
name  his  hour  and  weapons ;  and,  as  I  intend  it  to  be  a  very 
serious  affair,  will  not  admit  of  any  seconds ;  as  you  may  depend 
upon  it,  Miss  FRANKS,  that  whatever  may  be  your  spirit  on  the 
occasion,  the  world  shall  never  accuse  General  LEE  of  having 
turned  his  back  upon  you.  In  the  mean  time,  I  am  yours, 

C.  L. 

"  P.  S.  I  have  communicated  the  affair  only  to  my  confiden 
tial  friend,  who  has  mentioned  it  to  no  more  than  seven  mem 
bers  of  Congress,  and  nineteen  women,  six  of  whom  were  old 
maids,  so  that  there  is  no  danger  of  its  taking  wind  on  my 
side,  and  I  hope  you  will  be  equally  guarded  on  your  part." 
Garden. — ED. 


0. 

PAGE   323. 

ARLINGTON  HOUSE,  Febniary,  14,  1846. 

Near  Alexandria,  D.  C. 
MY  DEAR  SIR, 

I  send  you   a  few  sketches  of  Laurens.     He   was,   indeed, 

the  Bayard  of  his  age,  "un  chevalier,  sans  peuret  sa?*s  reproche." 

Lieutenant-Colonel  John  Laurens  was  the  son  of  Henry  Lau- 


APPENDIX. 


473 


rens,  President  of  the  Revolutionary  Congress,  and  called  Tower 
Henry,  from  the  circumstance  of  his  being  confined  in  the  Tower, 
(of  which  Earl  Cornwallis  was  constable,)  at  the  time  that  his 
gallant  son,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Laurens,  was  negotiating  at 
York  Town,  for  the  surrender  of  said  constable,  and  his  whole 
army.  Colonel  Laurens  was  educated  in  England,  as  were  most 
of  the  young  Carolinians  of  fortune  and  family  in  the  olden  time, 
and  had  married  a  Miss  Manning,  the  daughter  of  the  Lieu 
tenant  Governor  of  the  Bank  of  England,  when  the  troubles 
between  the  Mother  Country,  and  the  Colonies,  commenced. 
Knowing  the  ardour  of  young  Laurens  in  the  cause  of  liberty 
and  his  native  land,  his  English  friends  and  connexions  were  very 
desirous  of  preventing  his  return  to  America,  well  knowing  the 
part  that  he  would  take  in  the  approaching  contest.  His  father- 
in-law  offered  him  a  check  for  10,000  guineas,  if  he  would  give 
his  word  of  honour,  not  to  leave  the  British  shores.  Laurens 
rejected  the  offer  with  disdain,  and  though  closely  watched,  suc 
ceeded  in  concealing  himself  among  the  ballast  of  a  ship  bound 
to  America,  and  safely  reached  his  native  land. 

He  immediatey  took  a  decided  and  zealous  part  in  behalf  of 
his  country,  and  though  a  very  young  soldier,  soon  acquired  such 
distinction,  that  in  the  campaign  of  1777,  he  was  attached  to 
the  military  family  of  the  Commander-in-chief  as  Aid-de-camp, 
with  the  rank  of  Lieutenant-Colonel.  Associated  with  Hamil 
ton,  the  two  youthful  brothers  in  arms,  and  Aids-de-camp,  were 
considered  as  the  very  elite  of  the  Head  Quarters.  In  the  carn- 
paigns  of  1777  and  1778,  Laurens  greatly  distinguished  hirriself. 
At  the  battle  of  Germantown,  he  rushed  up  to  the  door  of  Chew's 
House,  which  he  forced  partly  open,  and  fighting  with  his  sword 
with  one  hand,  with  the  other  he  applied  to  the  wood  work  a 
flaming  brand,  and  what  is  very  remarkable,  retired  from  under 
the  tremendous  fire  of  the  house,  with  but  a  very  slight  wound. 
At  the  battle  of  Monmouth,  Laurens  was  again  in  the  very 
thickest  of  the  fight.  Leading  repeated  charges  on  the  enemy,, 
rallying  the  broken,  and  every  where  displaying  that  chivalric 
courage,  that  extorted  admiration  from  all,  even  from  his  ene 
mies. 

In  1781,  he  was  sent  on  a  special  mission  to  France,  to  expe- 

40* 


474 


APPENDIX. 


elite  the  aid  in  money,  stores,  naval  and  military  forces  which 
had  been  delayed,  till  the  cause  of  American  Independence  began 
to  suffer  grievously.  Laurens,  upon  his  arrival  in  France,  pro 
ceeded  directly  in  the  object  of  his  mission.  He  would  not 
listen  to  the  arguments,  apologies,  &c.,  of  ministers  and  cour 
tiers  ;  his  demand  was,  "  Show  me  the  King,"  and  would  only, 
in  full  court  at  Versailles,  consent  to  deliver  his  despatches  into 
the  king's  own  hand.  His  promptness,  energy,  and  lofty  bear 
ing,  brought  the  French  court  and  ministry  to  their  senses,  his 
demands  were  complied  with,  and  Laurens  sailed  in  triumph  on 
his  return  to  America,  laden  with  those  essential  aids  that  soon 
after  brought  the  War  of  the  Revolution  to  a  happy  and  glorious 
end.  The  assistance  obtained  by  the  genius  and  force  of  cha 
racter  of  Colonel  Laurens,  moved  the  armies  to  York  Town,  and 
to  the  consummation  of  the  contest.  At  York  Town,  Colonel 
Laurens  again  assumed  his  station,  as  Aid-de-camp  to  the  Com 
mander-in-chief. 

The  14th  of  October,  1781,  when  his  beloved  associate  and 
brother  in  arms,  Hamilton,  was  about  to  lead  the  assault  on  the 
redoubts,  Laurens  obtained  a  command  of  about  eighty  men,  and 
in  the  very  height  of  the  storming,  the  Lieutenant-Colonel  was 
•seen  gallantly  leading  his  men,  and  the  flank  of  the  American 
troops  and  leaping  into  the  enemy's  works,  he  made  Major 
Campbell,  the  British  commanding  officer,  a  prisoner  with  hi.s 
own  hand.  In  1782,  Colonel  Laurens  had  the  command  of  a 
body  of  troops  in  his  native  State,  and  while  operating  on  the 
Combahee,  he  encountered  a  British  force  sent  out  from  Charles 
ton.  Laurens  was  at  a  lady's  house,  ill  from  fever,  when  in 
formed  that  the  enemy  were  approaching.  He  sprung  from  his 
bed,  and  prepared  for  the  combat,  though  scarcely  able  to  sit  on 
his  horse.  As  he  moved  from  the  house,  he  told  the  lady  that 

if  she  would  look  out  from  her  portico,  she  would  see  a  battle 

poor  fellow  it  was  his  last.  As  the  British  troops  landed  from 
their  barges  a  spirited  attack  ensued,  and  Laurens  was  mortally 
wounded  at  nearly  the  first  fire.  As  he  fell  into  the  arms  of  Cap 
tain  Beall,  the  Captain  endeavoured  to  console  him  by  express 
ing  a  hope  that  the  wound  would  not  prove  mortal.  Laurens 
Replied  :  "  No,  no  my  dear  fellow,  this  is  as  it  should  be.  I  die 


APPENDIX.  475 

but  you  know  I  have  often  wished  to  die  in  battle;  my  country 
is  free,  and  no  longer  needs  my  services.  Farewell.  I  die  con 
tent." 

Such  was  the  admiration  felt  for  the  personal  character  of 
Laurens  in  the  British  army,  that  Major  B.  who  commanded  the 
British  detachment,  on  his  return  home  after  the  war,  was  ac 
tually  "sent  to  Coventry"  by  his  brother  officers,  who  said, 
"  How  could  you  kill  that  noble  fellow,  Colonel  Laurens,  and  the 
war  so  nearly  at  an  end,"  to  which  B.  in  justification,  replied: 
"  I  went  up  the  river  rather  on  a  trading,  than  a  fighting  expe 
dition.  We  wanted  bread,  and  proposed  to  give  clothes  and 
groceries  in  exchange,  but  to  all  our  overtures,  Laurens  sternly 
answered:  'Blood  for  bread,  with  the  enemies  of  my  country.' 
He  attacked  us  on  our  landing,  and  I  regret  his  fall,  gentlemen, 
as  much  as  you  do." 

Colonel  Laurens  lies  buried  in  the  garden  of  the  house  from 
which  he  marched  to  his  last  battle.  The  ancients  would  have 
erected  an  altar  to  "such  a  Roman;"  the  Americans  are  content 
that  the  rank  grass  should  alone  wave  over  the  ashes  of  Him 
who  was  the  pride  of  their  chivalry.  The  purest  of  Patriots. 
The  bravest  of  the  brave  of  warriors.  The  most  energetic  and 
successful  of  diplomatists.  "Do  you  remember  Laurens?"  said 
the  author  to  the  venerable  General  Philip  Stuart,  "  who  led  the 
forlorn  hope  of  Colonel  William  Washington's  horse  at  the  bat 
tle  of  Eutaws,  and  was  desperately  wounded."  The  gallant  ve 
teran  replied,  <c  After  the  action,  our  Hospital  was  in  the  most 
wretched  state  imaginable;  the  wounded  were  dressed  with  a 
kind  of  coarse  osnaburgs,  that  rather  irritated  and  increased,  than 
assuaged  the  anguish  of  our  wounds.  At  this  time  Laurens  ar 
rived.  On  beholding  our  destitute  and  suffering  condition,  he 
called  to  his  servant,  '  open  my  portmanteau,  sir,  take  out  the 
dozen  cambric  ruffled  shirts  that  I  brought  from  France,  tear 
them  up  into  bandages  for  the  gentlemen's  wounds.'  It  was 
done.  Now,  my  dear  sir,"  continued  the  maimed  soldier  of  the 
Revolution,  u  you  may  well  suppose  that  I  remember  Laurens." 

I  send  you,  my  dear  sir,  these  few  sketches  of  the  Life  and 
Character  of  Colonel  Laurens,  from  The  Recollections.  It  is  part 
of  the  plan  of  that  work,  to  introduce  brief  Memoirs  of  those 


476  APPENDIX. 

whom  WASHINGTON  loved,  who  were  attached  to  his  person,  or 
employed  by  him  in  important  services,  during  the  War  of  Inde 
pendence.  I  remain,  dear  sir, 

Your  obedient  and 

humble  servant, 

GEORGE  WT.  P.  CUSTIS. 

JOHN  S.  LITTELL,  ESQ. 

P.  S.  The  author  of  the  "  Recollections,"  knowing  that  La 
Fayette  was  the  associate  of  Hamilton  and  Laurens,  at  the  Head 
Quarters,  in  1777,  asked  the  good  General  as  to  the  respective 
degrees  of  attachment  felt  toward  the  Chief,  by  the  distinguished 
young  Aids-de-camp,  La  Fayette  replied:  "The  attachment 
of  Hamilton  was  pure,  generous,  enthusiastic;  that  of  Laurens — 
devotional" 


P. 

Page  336. 

CHARLES  JAMES  FOX. 

The  Philadelphia  edition,  published  in  1846,  of  "CONTRIBU 
TIONS  TO  THE  EDINBURGH  REVIEW  BY  FRANCIS  JEFFREY;" — a 
compilation  that  will  find  its  way  into  every  respectable  library, 
contains  an  exceedingly  able  Review  of  Mr.  Fox's  "History  of 
the  early  part  of  the  Reign  of  James  the  Second."  The  glaring 
faults  and  the  manly  virtues, — no  less  than  the  transcendent 
genius  and  abilities  of  this  illustrious  statesman,  have  alike,  ar 
rested  the  attention  of  mankind  ;  and  Lord  Jeffrey,  within  two 
years  of  his  decease,  and  with  the  full  development  of  his 
striking  character,  fresh  before  the  world,  has  sketched  it — its 
light  and  shade — with  a  master's  hand  ;  and  while  drawing 

"  His  frailties  from  their  dread  abode," 

has  done  noble  justice  to  a  name  that  will  ever  adorn  the  period 
of  England's  annals,  most  illustrious  for  the  number,  talent  and 
achievements  of  its  statesmen,  literati  and  heroes. 


APPENDIX. 


477 


"To  those,"  he  says,  "who  know  Mr.  Fox  only  by  the  great 
outlines  of  his  public  history, — who  know  merely  that  he  passed 
from  the  dissipations  of  too  gay  a  youth,  into  the  tumults  and 
cabals  of  a  political  life, — and  that  his  days  were  spent  in  con 
tending  about  public  measures,  and  in  guiding  or  averting  the 
tempests  of  faction,— the  spirit  of  indulgent  and  tender  feeling 
which  pervades  this  book,  must  appear  unaccountable.  Those 
who  live  much  in  the  world,  even  in  a  private  station,  commonly 
have  their  hearts  a  little  hardened,  and  their  moral  sensibility  a 
little  impaired.  But,  statesmen  and  practical  politicians,  are, 
with  justice,  suspected  of  a  still  greater  forgetfulness  of  mild  im 
pressions,  and  honourable  scruples.  Coming  necessarily  into 
contact  with  great  vices  and  great  sufferings,  they  must  gradu 
ally  lose  some  of  their  horror  for  the  first,  and  much  of  their 
compassion  for  the  last.  Constantly  engaged  in  contention,  they 
cease  pretty  generally,  to  regard  any  human  beings  as  objects  of 
sympathy  or  disinterested  attachment;  and,  mixing  much  with 
the  most  corrupt  part  of  mankind,  naturally  come  to  regard  the 
species  itself  with  indifference,  if  not  with  contempt.  All  the 
softer  feelings  are  apt  to  be  worn  off',  in  the  rough  conflicts  of 
factious  hostility ;  and  all  the  finer  moralities  to  be  effaced,  by 
the  constant  contemplation  of  expediency,  and  the  necessities  of 
occasional  compliance. 

"Such  is  the  common  conception  which  we  form  of  men, 
who,  have  lived  the  life  of  Mr.  Fox;  and  such,  in  spite  of  the 
testimony  of  partial  friends,  is  the  impression  which  most  private 
persons  would  have  retained  of  him,  if  this  volume  had  not  come 
to  convey  a  truer,  and  a  more  engaging  picture  to  the  world  at 
large,  and  to  posterity. 

"  By  far  the  most  remarkable  thing,  then,  in  this  book,  is  the 
tone  of  indulgence  and  unfeigned  philanthrophy  which  prevails 
in  every  part  of  it ; — a  most  amiable  sensibility  to  all  the  kind 
and  domestic  affections,  and  a  sort  of  soft-heartedness  towards 
the  sufferings  of  individuals,  which  seem  hitherto  to  have  been 
thought  incompatible,  with  the  stern  dignity  of  history.  It  can 
not  but  strike  us  with  something  still  more  pleasing  than  sur 
prise,  to  meet  with  traits  of  almost  feminine  tenderness,  in  the 
sentiments  of  this  veteran  statesman ;  and  a  general  character  of 


478 


APPENDIX. 


charity  towards  all  men,  not  only  remote  from  the  rancour  of 
vulgar  hostility,  but  purified  in  a  great  degree  from  the  asperities 
of  party  contention.  He  expresses  indeed,  throughout,  a  high- 
minded  contempt  for  what  is  base,  and  a  thorough  detestation 
for  what  is  cruel:  But  yet  is  constantly  led,  by  a  sort  of  gene 
rous  prejudice  in  favour  of  human  nature,  to  admit  all  possible 
palliations  for  the  conduct  of  the  individual  delinquent,  and 
never  attempts  to  shut  him  out  from  the  benefit  of  those  natural 
sympathies,  of  which,  the  bad  as  well  as  the  good  are  occasion 
ally  the  objects,  from  their  fortune  or  situation.  He  has  given 
a  new  character,  we  think,  to  history,  by  this  soft  and  conde 
scending  concern  for  the  feelings  of  individuals;  and  not  only 
left  a  splendid  record  of  the  gentleness  and  affectionate  simpli 
city  of  his  own  dispositions,  but  set  an  example,  by  which  we 
hope  that  men  of  genius  may  be  taught  hereafter,  to  render  their 
instructions  more  engaging  and  impressive.  Nothing,  we  are 
persuaded,  can  be  more  gratifying  to  his  friends,  than  the  im 
pression  of  his  character,  which  this  work  will  carry  down  to 
posterity;  nor  is  it  a  matter  of  indifference  to  the  country,  that 
its  most  illustrious  statesman  should  be  yet  more  distinguished, 
for  the  amiableness  of  his  private  affections." — ED. 


Q. 

Page  375. 
WASHINGTON  AT  HARRISBURGH. 

[From  the  Oracle  of  Dauphin,  of  Monday,  6th  October,  1794.] 
"  On  Friday  last,  the  President  of  the  United  States,  arrived  in 
this  town.  The  pleasure  excited  in  beholding,  for  the  first  time, 
our  beloved  chief,  in  this  borough,  is  not  easily  described.  The 
following  address  was  delivered  to  him,  by  the  burgesses,  in  be 
half  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  : — 


APPENDIX. 


479 


"  To  his  Excellency  GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  Esquire,  President 
of  the  United  States  of  America  : 

"  Sir,  While  we,  the  Burgesses  and  Citizens  of  Harrisburgh, 
rejoice  in  the  opportunity  of  presenting  our  respects,  to  a  cha 
racter  so  justly  revered  and  dear  to  Americans,  we  cannot  but 
lament,  that  we  should  owe  it  to  an  interruption  of  the  peace 
and  prosperity  of  our  country,  those  constant  objects  of  your 
public  cares.  We  trust,  however,  that  the  just  indignation 
which  fires  the  breasts  of  all  virtuous  citizens,  at  the  unprovoked 
outrages  committed  by  those  lawless  men,  who  are  in  opposition 
to  one  of  the  mildest  and  most  equal  governments,  of  which  the 
condition  of  man  is  susceptible,  will  excite  such  exertions,  as  to 
crush  the  spirit  of  disaffection  wherever  it  has  appeared ;  and 
that  our  political  horizon  will  shine  brighter  than  ever,  on  a  dis 
persion  of  the  clouds,  which  now  menace  and  obscure  it. 

"  Though  our  sphere  of  action  is  too  limited  to  produce  any  im 
portant  effects,  yet  we  beg  leave  to  assure  your  Excellency,  that, 
so  far  as  it  extends,  our  best  endeavours  shall  not  be  wanting  to 
support  the  happy  constitution,  and  wise  administration  of  our 
government. 

u  Signed  in  behalf  of  the  Borough. 

CONRAD  BOMBACH.  )  -n 

>  Burgesses. 
ALEXANDER  BERRYHILL.  3 

"  Harrisburgh,  October  3d,  1794." 

To  which  the  President  was  pleased  to  return  the  following 
answer: — 

"  To  the  Burgesses,  and  other  Citizens  of  Harrisburgh: 
u  Gentlemen — In  declaring  to  you,  the  genuine  satisfaction  I 
derive  from  your  very  cordial  address,  I  will  not  mingle  any  ex 
pression  of  the  painful  sensations,  which  I  experience  from  the 
occasion  that  has  drawn  me  hither.  You  will  be  at  no  loss  to 
do  justice  to  my  feelings.  But,  relying  on  that  kindness  of  Pro 
vidence  towards  our  country,  which  every  adverse  appearance 
hitherto  has  served  to  manifest;  and  counting  upon  the  tried 
good  sense,  and  patriotism  of  the  great  body  of  our  fellow-citi 
zens,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  indulge  with  you,  the  expectation  of 


480  APPENDIX. 

such  an  issue,  as  will  serve  to  confirm  the  blessings  we  enjoy, 
under  a  constitution,  that  well  deserves  the  confidence,  attach 
ment,  and  support  of  virtuous  and  enlightened  men. 

"  To  class  the  inhabitants  of  Harrisburgh  among  this  number,  is 
only  to  bear  testimony  to  the  zealous  and  efficient  exertions, 
which  they  have  made,  towards  the  defence  of  the  laws." 

11  Go:  WASHINGTON." 

"October  4th,  1794." 


R. 

Page  395. 
PRESIDENT  ADAMS. 

The  address  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Borough  of  Harrisburgh, 
in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States:* 

"Sir,  at  a  time  when  the  minds  of  men  are  so  intoxicated 
with  ideas  of  reform,  and  visionary  schemes  for  meliorating  the 
condition  of  humanity,  as  to  be  fatally  inattentive  to  their  own 
security,  and  regardless  of  considerations,  which  have  hitherto 
been  deemed  the  most  sacred  and  obligatory,  there  may  be  pro 
priety  in  the  declaration  of  sentiments,  which,  in  more  settled 
times,  might,  at  least,  be  thought  superfluous.  From  the  gene 
rality  also  of  the  practice  of  expressing  approbation  of  the 
measures  of  government  at  the  present  crisis,  motives  might  be 
attached  to  the  omission  of  it,  less  honourable  than  a  disinclina 
tion  to  intrude  upon  the  managers  of  the  public  concerns,  or  a 
reluctance  to  suppose  that,  in  the  resistance  of  outrage  and 
maintenance  of  national  independence,  they  would  not  receive 
the  support  of  the  virtuous  part  of  the  community. 

"Under  these  impressions,  we,  the  subscribers,  inhabitants 
of  the  Borough  of  Harrisburgh,  beg  leave  to  declare  that  we  are 
too  highly  sensible  of  the  prosperity  we  enjoy,  to  be  willing  to 

*  By  ALEXANDER  GRAYDON,  Esq.— ED. 


APPENDIX. 


481 


relinquish  it  without  an  effort  for  its  preservation ;  and  that,  in 
our  wishes  for  the  happiness  of  others,  we  have  not  lost  sight  of 
our  country  and  ourselves. — That  in  our  opinion,  the  conduct 
and  designs  of  the  French  Republic  (scarcely  aggravated  or 
made  more  apparent  by  the  profligacy  of  their  avowal),  are  such 
as  produce  alarm  and  indignation,  in  every  breast  that  feels  for 
the  honour  and  happiness  of  America,  and  to  excite  the  appre 
hensions  of  every  man,  of  whatever  nation  or  country,  who  may 
place  a  sense  of  justice,  morality  and  piety,  among  the  orna 
ments  of  his  nature  and  the  blessings  of  society.  That  under 
this  persuasion,  we  hold  it  wise  to  be  prepared  for  every  event, 
and  shall,  therefore,  most  cheerfully  acquiesce  in  such  measures 
of  defence,  as  may  be  adopted  by  you,  sir,  and  the  other 
branches  of  the  administration,  at  the  present  most  momentous 
period.  And  as  your  past  conduct  has  invariably  commanded 
the  respect  and  approbation  of  every  ingenious  mind,  so  we 
have  the  most  perfect  reliance  that,  in  future,  it  will  continue 
to  be  influenced  by  the  purest  motives,  and  clearest  perceptions 
of  the  public  good.  We  beg  you  to  accept  our  cordial  wishes 
for  your  personal  welfare  and  happiness." 


11  To  the  inhabitants  of  the  Borough  of  Harrisburgh  in  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania : — 

"  Gentlemen— Your  address  has  been  presented  to  me  by  Mr. 
Hartley,  Mr.  Sitgreaves,  and  Mr.  Hanna,  three  of  your  repre 
sentatives  in  Congress. 

"  I  know  not  which  to  admire  most,  the  conciseness,  the 
energy,  the  elegance  or  profound  wisdom  of  this  excellent  ad 
dress. 

"  Ideas  of  reformation,  and  schemes  for  meliorating  the  con 
dition  of  humanity,  should  not  be  discouraged  when  proposed 
with  reason,  and  pursued  with  moderation;  but  the  rage  for  in 
novation,  which  destroys  every  thing  because  it  is  established, 
and  introduces  absurdities  the  most  monstrous,  merely,  because 
they  are  new,  was  never  carried  to  such  a  pitch  of  madness 
in  any  age  of  the  world,  as  in  the  latter  end  of  the  boasted 
41 


482  APPENDIX. 

eighteenth  century,  and  never  produced  effects  so  horrible  upon 
suffering  humanity. 

"  Among  all  the  appearances,  portentous  of  evil,  there  is  none 
more  incomprehensible  than  the  professions  of  republicanism, 
among  those  who  place  not  a  sense  of  justice,  morality,  or  piety 
among  the  ornaments  of  their  nature  and  the  blessings  of  society. 
As  nothing  is  more  certain  or  demonstrable,  than  that  free  re 
publicanism  cannot  exist  without  these  ornaments  and  blessings, 
the  tendency  of  the  times  is  rapid  towards  a  restoration  of  the 
petty  military  despotisms  of  the  feudal  anarchy,  and  by  their 
means  a  return  to  the  savage  state  of  barbarous  life. 

"  How  can  the  press  prevent  this,  when  all  the  presses  of  a 
nation,  and  indeed  of  many  nations  at  once,  are  subject  to  an 
imprimatur,  by  a  veto  upon  pain  of  conflagration,  banishment, 
or  confiscation. 

uThat  America  may  have  the  glory  of  arresting  this  torrent 
of  error,  vice,  and  imposture,  is  my  fervent  wish ;  and  if  senti 
ments  as  great  as  those  from  Harrisburgh,  should  be  found  uni 
versally  to  prevail,  as  I  doubt  not  they  will,  my  hopes  will  be 
as  sanguine  as  my  wishes." 

"JOHN  ADAMS." 

•'Philadelphia,  12th  May,  1798." 


COMMENTS    BY  MR.   GRAYDON. 

A  comparison  of  this  answer  of  Mr.  Adams,  with  the  pre 
ceding  one  of  General  WASHINGTON,  tends  to  illustrate  the  diffe 
rent  characters  of  the  men.  In  the  one,  we  find  every  sentiment 
restrained  by  the  most  prudent  and  judicious  circumspection ; 
it  says  no  more  "  than  just  the  thing  it  ought."— But,  in  that  of 
Piesident  Adams,  the  address  seems  to  have  been  seized  on  as  a 
text,  for  a  very  bold  and  excursive  commentary,  in  which  have 
been  indulged  some  flights  of  fancy,  and  a  prophetic  dictum, 
which,  however  it  might  be  warranted  by  appearances  at  the 
time,  has  not  yet  been  fulfilled,  nor  is  likely  to  be.  As  to  the 
admonitions  scattered  through  the  answers,  generally  to  the  nu 
merous  addresses  presented,  considering  the  temper  of  the  time, 


APPENDIX. 


483 


and  authority  of  Mr.  Adams's  character  in  point  of  political  wis 
dom  and  sagacity,  they  are  rather  laudable  than  censurable  ; 
though  in  minds  not  duly  impressed  with  the  awfulness  of  the 
crisis,  they  might  be  liable  to  the  imputation  of  a  party  spirit, 
not  quite  becoming  in  a  chief  magistrate.  But,  what  is  truly 
wonderful  and  deplorable,  is,  that  the  man  who  could  utter  such 
sentiments  in  the  year  1798,  should,  in  a  very  short  time  after, 
have  fallen  into  the  democratic  ranks,  and  have  advocated  the 
pretensions  of  France,  a  war  with  England, — anfl  in  short,  all 
the  measures  of  that  portion  of  the  people,  whose  views  and  . 

policy  he  had  so  poignantly  reprobated. 

#***** 

Whatever  evasions  may  be  employed  to  apologize  for  this 
change,  as  that  the  danger  of  democratic  anarchy  was  removed, 
and  the  petty  despotisms  apprehended,  were  swallowed  up  in 
the  grand,  overwhelming  empire  of  NAPOLEON,  the  character  of 
revolutionary  France,  in  some  of  its  most  menacing  aspects,  was 
the  same.  The  same  imprimatur  on  all  the  presses  of  one  na 
tion,  and  indeed  of  more  nations  than  were  subject  to  it  in  1798, 
remained,  the  same  torrent  of  vice  and  imposture,  for  the  same 
flagitious  purposes  of  arbitrary  rule,  and  extended  dominion. 
The  same  efforts,  but  with  more  alarming  efficiency,  were  in 
operation  for  dangerous  innovations,  for  Gallic  predominance, 
and  the  flood  of  immorality  inseparable  from  it.  Yet  lament 
able  to  be  reflected  on,  the  patriotism  of  Mr.  Adams,  "  with  all 
these  appearances  portentous  of  evil,"  did  ebb  from  the  full  tide 
of  federalism,  to  the  dead  low  water  mark  of  democracy  and 
jacobinism. 

But  Mr.  Adams  seems,  unfortunately,  to  have  exclusively 
chosen  public  life  for  his  profession,  as  well  as  that  of  his  sons. 
What  then  was  to  be  done  ?  Democracy  was  in  the  ascendant, 
and  to  be  statesmen  out  of  place,  was  as  abhorrent  to  the  genius 
of  thrift,  as  to  be  lawyers  without  litigation,  carpenters  without 
houses  to  build,  or  shoemakers  without  leather.  In  this  unto 
ward  predicament,  the  eldest  son  boldly  determines  "  not  to  deli 
berate,  but  to  act,"  and  is  rewarded  accordingly.  And  the  old 
gentleman,  either  for  his  own  good,  or  of  the  rest  of  his  family, 
seems  equally  bent  on  a  course  of  activity.  Well  did  General 


484  APPENDIX. 

Hamilton  seem  to  comprehend  his  character,  when  he  states  him 
as  capable,  through  the  vexation  of  wounded  vanity,  of  directly 
changing  his  political  course.  In  the  clashings  of  his  cabinet, 
the  federalists  seemed  to  prefer  the  opinions  of  General  Hamil 
ton,  to  his  own.  Hence,  he  renounces  at  once  both  the  party 
and  the  creed,  and  he  takes  himself  to  those  of  the  jacobins,  thus 
rendering  himself  a  memorable  example  of  the  truth  of  Solon's 
aphorism, — that  u  no  man  can  be  pronounced  happy,  until  he 
dies, — none  secure  from  degeneracy  until  death  has  put  its 
seal  on  his  character." 


S. 

PAGE  403. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

HIS  ELECTION  TO  THE  PRESIDENCY  BY  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 

"  On  the  llth  of  February  the  ballots  were  opened.  During 
the  performance  of  this  ceremony,  a  most  extraordinary  inci 
dent  occurred.  As  it  is  known  to  but  few  now  living,  and 
never  been  publicly  spoken  of,  it  has  been  deemed  proper  to 
record  it  here,  as  a  part  of  the  history  of  that  exciting  contest. 

"The  Aurora  of  the  16th  of  February,  1801,  remarks,  that 
t  the  tellers  declared  that  there  was  some  informality  in  the 
votes  of  Georgia ;  but,  believing  them  to  be  true  votes,  reported 
them  as  such/  No  explanation  of  the  nature  of  this  informality 
was  given ;  nor  is  it  known  that  any  has  ever  been  given  since. 
Had  it  been  announced  at  the  time,  there  can  be  no  doubt  it 
would  have  proved  fatal  to  the  election  of  Mr.  Jefferson. 
Whether  the  interest  of  our  country  would  or  would  not  have 
been  thereby  promoted,  is  not  a  question  for  discussion  here. 

"  By  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  at  that  time  it  was 
provided,  art.  2,  sect.  1,  'The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  re- 


APPENDIX.  485 

spective  States,  and  vote  by  ballot  for  two  persons,  of  whom 
one  at  least  shall  not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same  state  with 
themselves.  And  they  shall  make  a  list  of  all  the  persons  voted 
for,  and  of  the  number  of  votes  for  each,  which  list  they  shall 
sign  and  certify,  and  transmit,  sealed,  to  the  seat  of  Government 
of  the  United  States,  directed  to  the  President  of  the  Senate. 
The  President  of  the  Senate  shall,  in  the  presence  of  the  Senate 
and  House  of  Representatives  open  all  the  certificates,  and  the 
votes  shall  then  be  counted.  The  person  having  the  greatest 
number  of  votes  shall  be  the  President,  if  such  number  be  a 
majority  of  the  whole  number*  of  electors  appointed;  and  if  there 
be  more  than  one  who  have  such  majority,  and  have  an  equal 
number  of  votes,  then  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  im 
mediately  choose,  by  ballot,  one  of  them  for  President ;  and  if 
no  person  have  a  majority,  then  from  the  five  highest  on  the  list 
the  said  House  shall,  in  like  manner,  choose  the  President. 
But,  in  choosing  the  President,  the  votes  shall  be  taken  by 
States,  and  a  majority  of  all  the  States  shall  be  necessary  to  a 
choice.' 

"  From  the  above  extract  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Constitution 
is  imperative  as  to  the  form  and  manner  in  which  the  electoral 
returns  are  to  be  made.  The  ceremony  of  opening  was  per 
formed  in  the  presence  of  the  two  Houses.  The  package  of  a 
State  having  been  opened  by  the  Vice-President,  it  was  handed 
by  him  to  the  tellers.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  the  presiding  officer. 
On  opening  the  package  endorsed  Georgia  votes,  it  was  dis 
covered  to  be  totally  irregular.  The  statement  now  about  to 
be  given,  is  derived  from  an  honourable  gentleman,  a  member 
of  Congress  from  the  State  of  New  York,  during  the  adminis 
tration  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  yet  living  (1837)  in  this  State.  He 
says  that  Mr.  Wells  (a  teller  on  the  part  of  the  Senate)  informed 
him  that  the  envelope  was  blank ;  that  the  return  of  the  votes 
was  not  authenticated  by  the  signatures  of  the  electors,  or  any 
of  them,  either  on  the  outside  or  the  inside  of  the  envelope,  or  in 
any  other  manner ;  that  it  merely  stated  in  the  inside  that  the 
votes  of  Georgia  were,  for  Thomas  Jefferson  four,  and  for 

41* 


486  APPENDIX. 

Aaron  Burr  four,  without  the  signature  of  any  person  whatso 
ever.  Mr.  Wells  added,  that  he  was  very  undecided  as  to  the 
proper  course  to  be  pursued  by  the  tellers.  It  was,  however, 
suggested  by  one  of  them  that  the  paper  should  be  handed  to 
the  presiding  officer,  without  any  statement  from  the  tellers, 
except  that  the  return  was  informal ;  that  he  consented  to  this 
arrangement  under  the  firm  conviction  that  Mr.  Jefferson  would 
announce  the  nature  of  the  informality  from  the  Chair;  but,  to 
his  utmost  surprise,  he  (Mr.  Jefferson)  rapidly  declared  that  the 
votes  of  Georgia  were  four  for  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  four  for 
Aaron  Burr,  without  noticing  their  informality,  and  in  a  hurried 
manner  put  them  aside,  and  then  broke  the  seals  and  handed  to 
the  tellers  the  package  from  the  next  state.  Mr.  Wells  ob 
served,  that  as  soon  as  Mr.  Jefferson  looked  at  the  paper  pur 
porting  to  contain  a  statement  of  the  electoral  vote  of  the  State 
of  Georgia,  his  countenance  changed,  but  that  the  decision  and 
promptitude  with  which  he  acted  on  that  occasion,  convinced 
him  of  that  which  he  (a  Federalist,)  and  his  party  had  always 
doubted,  that  is  to  say,  Mr.  Jefferson's  decision  of  character,  at 
least  when  his  own  interest  was  at  hazard.  Mr.  Wells  further 
stated,  that  if  the  votes  of  Georgia  had  not  been  thus  counted, 
as  it  would  have  brought  all  the  candidates  into  the  house,  Mr. 
Pinckney  among  the  number,  Mr.  Jefferson  could  not  have 
been  elected  President. 

"  The  same  honourable  member  of  Congress  further  stated, 
that  some  few  years  after  receiving -the  above  information  from 
Mr.  Wells,  he  became  intimately  acquainted  with  JOHN  NICHO 
LAS,  who  was  one  of  the  tellers  referred  to,  and  who  had  re 
moved  from,  Virginia,  into  the  western  part  of  the  State  of  New 
York.  Mr.  Nicholas  gave  to  the  honourable  member  the  same 
statement  in  substance,  not  knowing  that  it  had  been  previously 
derived  from  Mr.  Wells.  Mr.  Nicholas  was  a  warm  personal 
friend  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  declared  that  he  never  felt  so 
astounded  in  his  life,  as  when  he  discovered  the  irregularity. 
He  claimed  some  credit  for  the  adroit  manner  in  which  he  had 
managed  Mr.  Rutledge,  so  far  as  to  obtain  his  consent  to  hand 
the  paper  to  Mr.  Jefferson  without  public  explanation  from  the 


APPENDIX. 


487 


tellers,  and  which  was  effected  by  a  conciliatory  appeal  to  the 
magnanimity  of  the  member  from  South  Carolina. 

"  The  whole  number  of  electoral  votes  given  at  the  election 
in  1800,  was  one  hundred  and  thirty -eight :  necessary  to  a 
choice,  seventy.  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Burr  had  each,  accord 
ing  to  the  return  made,  seventy-three.  Georgia  gave/owr  votes. 
If  that  number  had  been  deducted  from  Jefferson  and  Burr,  as 
illegally  returned,  of  which  there  is  no  doubt,  they  would  have 
had  only  sixty-nine  votes  each ;  consequently  they  would  not 
have  had,  in  the  language  of  the  Constitution,  '  a  majority  of 
the  whole  number  of  electors  appointed,'  and  the  candidates  out 
of  which  a  choice  of  President  must  be  made,  would  have  been 
Mr.  Jefferson,  Mr.  Burr,  Mr.  Adams,  Mr.  Pinckney.  The 
Federal  members  would  then  have  said  to  the  Republicans,  we 
will  unite  with  you  in  the  choice  of  either  of  the  gentlemen  pre 
sented  to  the  House  except  Mr.  Jefferson ;  and  if  the  Govern 
ment  is  to  be  brought  to  a  termination  by  our  failure  to  elect  a 
President,  the  responsibility  will  be  on  you.  And  is  it  to  be 
believed,  that  in  such  a  case  the  doubtful  members  who  were 
sighing  for  office,  if  any  such  there  were,  would  have  rejected 
the  suggestion  in  toto?" — DAVIS'  LIFE  OF  BURR,  vol.  ii.  pp. 
71-74.— ED. 


INDEX. 


Adair,  General,  Anecdote  of,  324. 

Adams,  Mr.  John,  election  of,  to  the  Presidency,  385;  administration 
of,  388;  imposition  of  taxes  by,  389;  tactics  of  his  opponents, 
391;  singular  fabrication,  392;  addresses  to,  394;  reply  of,  481; 
Mr.  Graydon's  comments  on,  482. 
Anecdotes,  88,  131- 
Andrews,  Dr.  John,  39. 
Allen,  Colonel  William,  108,  130,  140;  defection  of  to  the  British, 

131,  161;  visit  of,  to  Captain  Graydon,  236. 
Allen,  James,  108,  118. 
Allen,  Andrew,  118,280. 
Allen,  Colonel  Ethan,  241,  243,  260. 
Atlee,  Colonel,  150,  334. 
American  Tactics,  176. 
Policy,  234, 

Army,  appearance  of  the,  147,  256;  character  of  the,  148, 
150,  156;  review  of,  before  the  battle  of  Brandy  wine, 
291;  state  of  parties  in,  322. 
Generals,  298. 
Americanisms,  229,  249. 
Axtle,  Mr.,  252. 
Allison,  Patrick,  39. 

Aids-de-camp,  advantages  of  the  station  of,  159, 
Addison,  Alexander,  352.  v 
Arnold,  Washington's  opinion  of,  449. 


490  INDEX. 

Autobiography,  motives  in  writing,  13;  qualifications  for  writing,  95. 
Auchmuty,  Lieutenant-General  Sir  Samuel,  274. 

Badourin,  Mr.,  65. 

Bradford,  William,  111;  character  of,  112. 

Baird,  Dr.,  141. 

Baxter,  Colonel,  201. 

Bache,  Theophylact,  250;  kindness  of,  250;  capture  of,  317. 

Bache,  Richard,  250. 

Bache,  Mrs.  Sarah,  250,  327. 

Bland,  Colonel,  Theodoric,  279. 

Brandy  wine,  Battle  of,  291;  reflections  on,  293;  incident  at,  455. 

Blancons,  M.,  380. 

Beveridge,  John,  35;  anecdote  of,  36;  poetical  attempts,  death  of,  37. 

Beckwith,  Lieutenant,  humane  and  generous  conduct  of,  213;  charac 
ter  of,  219. 

Bergen-op-Zoom,  287. 

Benezet,  Anthony,  326. 

Bristol,  past  and  present  condition  of,  16;  inhabitants  of,  22. 

Biddle,  Judge,  character  of,  21. 

Biddle,  Mr.  Edward,  285. 

British,  descent  of,  on  Long  Island,  162;  engagement  with  the  Ameri 
can  troops,  163;  skirmishing  between  the  two  armies,  173; 
capture  of  Fort  Washington  by,  176,202;  treatment  of  prisoners 
by,  207,  232;  loss  of,  in  the  battle,  216. 

British  soldiers,  considerate  treatment  of,  by  the  Americans,  214;  on 
parole,  304. 

Bitting.  Captain,  318. 

Bond,  Mr.  Richard,  81. 

Boileau,  Captain,  380. 

Bunker's  Hill,  Battle  of,  421. 

Burke,  Edmund,  opinions  of,  403,  404. 

Burgess,  Miss  Ann,  22;  anecdote  of,  73. 

Burgoyne,  General,  opinion  of,  respecting  taxation,  114;  capture  of, 
297. 

Bryan,  George,  287. 

Burr,  Colonel  Aaron,  357. 

t 

Carey,  Henry,  32. 
Caspipina  Tamoc,  98. 
Arbuthnot,  Captain,  75. 


INDEX.  491 

Chalmers,  Colonel,  108. 

Clay,  Rev.  Mr.,  109. 

Camden,  Lord,  remark  of,  to  Dr.  Franklin,  116. 

Cadwalader,  General  John,  123,  duel  of  with  General  Conway,  301. 

Cadwalader,  Colonel  Lambert,  181;  gallantry  of  at  Haerlem  Heights, 
196. 

Carroll,  John,  142. 

Carroll,  Charles,  142. 

Carroll,  Mrs.,  244. 

Chase,  Samuel,  142. 

Character,  an  odd,  154,  231. 

Camp  comforts,  189. 

Chatham,  Lord,  remark  of,  254. 

Captivity,  257. 

Charlton,  Dr.,  261. 

Clarkson,  Mr.,  265. 

Canon,  Mr.,  288. 

Chartres,  Colonel,  character  of,  and  epitaph  on,  370. 

Chew,  Benjamin,  117,  290. 

Clinton,  Sir  Henry,  101. 

Clifton,  Colonel,  108. 

Clough,  Major,  111. 

Congress  at  Philadelphia,  129. 

Continental  Batallions,  129. 

Commissioners  to  Canada,  142. 

Connecticut  Light  Horse,  155. 

Council  of  Safety,  182;  injudicious  conduct  of,  183;  remonstrance  of 
officers,  185. 

CofTee-House  Incident,  240. 

Conyngham,  the  Provost  Marshal,  241. 

Coxe,  Tench,  273. 

Conway,  General,  299;  conduct  of,  at  the  Battle  of  Germantown,  301. 

Communities,  selfishness  of,  308. 

Constitutionalists,  331. 

Confederation,  articles  of,  339. 

Constitution  of  the  United  States,  adoption  of,  340;  opinions  of  Wash 
ington,  Hamilton,  Henry,  Franklin  and  Madison  respect 
ing,  341;  question  of  its  adoption,  342. 

Church,  Mr.,  anecdote  of,  76. 

Churchill,  quoted,  67,  68. 


492  INDEX. 

Draper,  Sir  William,  67;  visit  of,  to  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  70. 

Davidson,  Lieutenant,  189. 

Davenport,  Captain,  237. 

Drayton,  William  Henry,  323. 

De  Kalb,  Baron,  motives  of,  in  espousing  the  American  cause,  64; 

gallantry  and  death  of,  65. 
Debating  Society,  90. 
Dement,  Mr.,  215. 

Deserters  from  the  cause  of  Independence,  238. 
Democrat,  the  term,  331. 

Democracy,  the,  364;  Burke's  definition  of,  402. 
Diffidence,  83. 

Dickinson,  John,  106,  118,  337,  445. 
Dinner  Party,  A,  230. 
Dove,  James,  24,  anecdote  of,  25. 
Donop,  Colonel,  265. 
Duche,  Rev.  Jacob,  98;  Author  of  Tamoc  Caspipina,  98;  Letter  of,  to 

General  Washington,  99,  429. 
Duer,  William,  302. 
Dunlap,  Mr.,  harsh  treatment  of,  306. 
Duelling,  324. 

Early  Reminiscences,  28,  30. 
Edwards,  Lieutenant,  133,  320. 

England,  political  ascendancy  of,  407,  arrogance  and  ambition  of,  408. 
Etherington,  Major  George,  70;  kindness  of,  to  Mr.  Graydon,  71; 
talent  of,  for  repartee,  73;  knowledge  of,  of  mankind,  74. 
Etherington,  Captain,  anecdote  of,  72. 
Elegiac  stanzas,  258. 

Engineer  Department,  deficiency  in  the,  151. 
Elliot,  Mr.  Andrew,  267. 
Exclusive  patriotism,  306. 

Franks,  Miss,  repartees  of,  469. 

Farmer's  Letters,  106,  118. 

Franklin,  Dr.,  conversation  of,  with  Mr.  Pratt,  116;  anecdote  of,  131; 

views  of,  on  government,  286;  politic  conduct  of,  328. 
Fast  Day,  137. 
Flat  Bush,  Society  at,  246,  253. 


INDEX.  493 

Fanning,  Colonel,  255. 

Flahaven,  Colonel,  316. 

France,  National  Assembly  of,  347 ;  Revolution  in,  357  ;  popular 
feeling  towards,  368,  375,  388,  394,  403. 

Fell,  Major,  75. 

Female  Society,  81. 

French  Language,  89. 

Fencing,  109, 

Feuquiere,  Marquis  de,  291. 

Federalists,  364,  397. 

French  Travellers,  377. 

French  Settlement  in  America,  579. 

French  party  in  America,  388. 

Fisher,  Mr.,  263. 

Findlay,  William,  356,  373. 

Fries's  Insurrection,  393. 

Foot  Race,  45. 

Forrest,  Colonel,  132,  246,  315. 

Fort  Washington,  152;  inefficiency  of,  152;  American  Army  in  the 
vicinity  of,  174;  untenable  character  of,  186,  192, 
210;  threatened  attack  upon,  187;  skirmishing, 
188;  invested  by  the  enemy,  191;  considerations 
relative  to  its  defence,  192  ;  battle  on  the  neighbour 
ing  heights,  193  ;  gallantry  of  the  Americans,  197, 
253;  capture  of,  171,  197,  216. 

Fox,  Charles  James,  remark  of,  256 ;  character  of,  336 ;  Jeffrey's 
Sketch  of,  477. 

Fonquet,  General,  Defence  of  Landshut  by,  191. 

Fouchet,  M.,  375. 

Fludd,  Robert,  Treatise  of,  65. 

Frye,  General  Joseph,  158. 

Graydon,  Alexander,  motives  of,  in  writing,  14;  ancestry  of,  17; 
family  history  of,  20;  father  of,  20,  23 ;  removal  of,  to  Phi 
ladelphia,  24  ;  early  education  of,  25;  anecdote  of,  28  ;  early 
character  of,  29 ;  associates  of,  40 ;  retrospective  events  in 
the  history  of,  42;  early  habits  and  amusements  of,  55; 
school  anecdote  of,  56  ;  acquaintance  of,  with  Major  Ether- 
ington,  72  ;  introduction  into  new  society,  81 ;  choice  of  a 
profession  by,  83;  begins  the  study  of  law,  108;  retrospective 
reflections,  114;  enters  the  army  as  captain,  129;  anxiety 
42 


494 


INDEX. 

respecting  his  subalterns,  132;  success  in  recruiting,  137; 
mission  to  General  Schuyler,  138;  incidents  on  the  route, 
139,  143;  return,  145;  leaves  Philadelphia,  to  join  the 
army,  145;  remarks  on  the  condition  of  the  army,  147; 
adventures  on  Long  Island,  164;  skirmishing  with  the  ene 
my,  165;  impending  engagement,  167;  retreat,  167;  gal 
lant  conduct  of  his  regiment,  168  ;  marches  to  Fort  Wash- 
ington,  172;  remarks  on  American  tactics,  177;  garrison 
duty,  181;  ludicrous  incident,  189;  insecure  position  of, 
190;  participation  of,  in  the  battle  of  Haerlem  Heights,  195; 
perilous  situation  and  capture,  204;  barbarous  treatment  of, 
206;  reflections  on  the  loss  of  the  fort,  211 ;  generous  con 
duct  of  a  British  officer,  213 ;  anxiety  on  account  of  his  bro 
ther,  217  ;  marched  to  New  York,  220 ;  occurrences  on  the 
road,  222  ;  disposal  of  the  prisoners,  224  ;  baggage  restored, 
225;  stroll  through  the  city,  225;  letter  from  his  mother, 
228:  letter  to  her  from  Washington,  229 ;  treatment  of  pri 
soners,  234;  memorial  to  General  Howe,  236;  civilities  to, 
236 ;  letter  to  the  British  officers,  239 ;  exchange  of  prison 
ers,  245;  removal  from  New  York,  245;  situation  at  Flat 
Bush,  248;  parole,  245;  interview  with  Colonel  Fanning, 
254;  stanzas  by,  258;  obstacles  loan  exchange  of  prisoners, 
259;  visited  by  his  mother,  261,  264;  residence  at  Flat 
Bush,  266;  application  to  General  Howe  by  his  mother  for 
his  release,  268;  liberation  on  parole,  269;  arrives  at  New 
York,  271;  at  the  American  camp,  274;  interview  with 
Washington,  275;  opinion  of  Hamilton,  276;  occurrences 
on  the  road,  279;  reaches  Philadelphia,  281;  proceeds  to 
Reading,  283;  political  feelings,  284;  Wilkinson's  opinion 
of  Mr.  Graydon,  297;  he  is  exchanged,  and  marries,  309; 
unfair  treatment  of,  325;  aversion  of,  to  political  dissensions, 
332;  appointment  to  the  prothonotaryship  of  Dauphin 
county,  334,  338;  advocates  the  adoption  of  the  national 
constitution,  343;  election  of,  to  the  state  convention,  344; 
views  of  questions  debated  in  that  body,  345;  writes  the 
address  to  President  Washington  on  the  occasion  of  the 
whiskey  insurrection,  375;  political  principles  of,  396;  pro 
scription  of,  by  the  Democracy,  400;  reflections,  401; 
publication  of  his  Memoirs,  xi. ;  character  of  the  work  by 
the  editor  of  the  Port  Folio,  xv. ;  character  of  Mr.  Gray- 


INDEX.  495 

don,  xvi.;  translation  of  a  Latin  epigram  by,  xviii.;  repub- 

lication  of  the  Memoirs,  by  Mr.  Gait  in,  Scotland,  xix ; 

death  of  Mr.  Graydon,  xvi. 
Graydon,  Alexander,  senior,  recommended  to  be  a  field  officer,  417; 

death  and  character  of,  33. 
Graydon,  William,  379. 
Galloway,  Joseph,  117,  267,  443. 
Grant,  Mrs.,  Memoirs  of,  quoted,  249. 
Gait,  John,  his  tribute  to  Mr.  Graydon,  xix. 
Gates,  General,  300. 
Graff,  Mr.,  305. 
Gadsclen,  Captain,  327. 
Gallatin,  Albert,  353. 
"Greens,  The"  123. 

George  the  Third,  demolition  of  the  statue  of,  161. 
Greene,  General,  169;  opinion  of  the  tenability  of  Fort  Washington, 
176,202;  character  of,  180:  Hamilton's  eulogium  on,  212: 
General  Henry  Lee's  opinion  of,  299. 
Germantown,  Battle  of,  295. 
Genet,  Citizen,  363, 379, 
Gibbon,  the  Historian,  remark  of,  63. 
Grimm,  Baron,  correspondence  of,  281. 
Gordon,  Thomas,  22. 
Glover,  General  John,  148. 
Governor,  re-eligibility  of  the,  348. 

Hanson,  Mr.,  110. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  149;  personal  appearance  of,  149;  character  of, 

275;  course  of,  in  reference  to  the  Constitution,  341, 
Harrisburgh,  365;  Washington  at,  478:  Mr.  Adams  at,  480. 
Haslet,  Colonel  John,  150. 
Hand,  Colonel,  147. 
Haerlem,  occupation  of  the  Heights  of,  by  the  American  army,  178; 

battle  on  the  heights  of,  196,  202. 
Hancock,  President,  283,  425. 
Hanna,  General,  374. 
Henry,  Patrick,  influence  of,  in  giving  the  impulse  to  the  American 

Revolution,  135;  opinion  of  the  Constitution,  341. 
Heath,  General,  memoirs  of,  quoted,  173,  174. 
Heath,  Dan.,  135. 
Hessian,  insolence  of  a,  207. 


496 


INDEX. 


Hesketh,  Captain,  228. 

Highlander,  generosity  of  a,  223. 

Historical  truth,  310, 

Howe,  General,  101;  WraxalPs  opinion  of,  101;  Lee's  ditto,  101, 
215:  Walpole's  ditto,  214;  supineness  of,  102;  cautious  ge 
neralship  of,  170;  attack  on  Fort  Washington,  196;  Bur- 
goyne's  remark  on  his  dispositions  at  Bunker's  Hill,  214;  ob 
servation  of,  respecting  Washington,  257;  proclamation  of, 
offering  pardon  to  the  Americans,  227 ;  memorial  to,  on  the 
part  of  the  prisoners,  236;  result  of  the  application,  244  ;  in 
terview  with  Mrs.  Graydon,  268. 

Hopkinson,  Francis,  letter  to  Mr.  Duche,  438 ;  letter  from  General 
Washington  to,  437. 

Hoops,  Major  Adam,  378. 

Hoekley,  William,  112. 

Houssacker,  Colonel,  237. 

Hutchinson,  Dr.,  91. 

Hunt,  Isaac,  treatment  of,  127. 

Huck,  Captain,  260. 

Hutchins,  Captain  Thomas,  251, 

Izard,  Ralph,  227. 

Idleness,  dangers  of,  80. 

Independence,  declaration  of,   159;  reception  of,  by  Congress,  307, 

and  the  country,  160;  motives  which  induced  it,  329. 
Indians,  alarm  caused  by,  23,  46  ;  attempted  massacre  of,  47. 
Irish,  feeling  of,  in  favour  of  the  Revolution,  122. 
Introduction,  13;  editor's  introduction,  xi. 

Jay,  John,  357,  S76,  Treaty  of,  376. 

Jefferson,  Mr.,  opinion  respecting  commerce,  253 ;  abuse  of  Hamilton 
by,  276,  and  of  Washington,  359;  political  views  of,  361 ; 
reward  of  partizans  by,  362;  election  of,  to  the  Presi 
dency,  384 ;  character  of,  399 ;  means  employed  to  secure 
his  election,  403. 

Johnson,  Samuel,  100,  107. 

Johnstone,  Governor,  119. 

Johnson,  Mr.,  223. 

Johnson,  Heathcote,  236. 


INDEX.  497 

Junius,  style  of,  96,  97;  claim  of  General  Charles  Lee  to  the  author 
ship  of  the  Letters  of,  320;  Dr.  Macleane's  do.  421. 

Kearsley,  Dr.,  78,  126. 
Keating,  Captain,  380. 

Kinnesly,  Mr.,  attainments  of,  in  Electricity,  27;  catastrophe  of  the 
son  of,  93. 

Lake  George,  142. 

Laurens,  John,   Colonel,  323;  duel  of,  with  General  Charles   Lee, 

324 ;  character  of,  472. 
Lewis,  Mr.,  344,  348,  352,  354. 
Lewis,  Samuel,  44. 
Lee,  Henry,  Memoirs  of,  quoted,  101;  character  of,  279;  opinion  of 

General  Greene,  299. 

Lee,  Richard  Henry,  opinion  of  General  Mifflin,  154. 
Lee,  General  Charles,  profane  remark  of,  138;  opinion  of,  respecting 
Fort  Washington,  177,  193;  character  of,  320; 
dislike  of  Washington,  320;  capture  of,  451; 
arrest  and  trial  of,  459,  468;  Letter  to  Miss 
Franks,  468;  abuse  of  Washington,  465. 
Lenox,  Captain,  200,  259. 
Legislature,  division  of,  into  two  houses,  287. 
Liberty,  professions  of  attachment  to,  139. 
Livingston,  Judge  Brockolst,  145. 
Loxley,  Captain,  47. 
Love,  81,  281.    ' 

Long  Island,  battle  of,  162;  skirmishing  between  the  armies,  165; 
gallantry  of  the  Americans,  168;  causes  of  the 
loss  of  the  battle  of,  169;  Lee's  opinion  of  the 
impolicy  of  retaining  possession  of,  177;  escape 
of  prisoners  from,  314. 
Loring,  Commissary,  245. 

Ludwig,  Christopher,  Baker  General  of  the  army  161. 
Lux,  Mr.  George,  328,  329. 
Lyttelton,  Lord,  opinion  of,  on  taxation,  114. 
Lutterloh,  Henry,  302, 

Macleane,  Dr.  Lauchlan,  42,  kindness,  of,  to  Dr.  Goldsmith,  42,  bio 
graphical  notice  of,  419;  reputed  author  of 
the  Letters  of  Junius,  418. 
42* 


498  INDEX. 

Mauvaise  honte,  84. 

M'Kean,  Thomas,  character  and  services  of,  120,  121,  394,  395. 

Martial  Exercises,  123,  125. 

Martial  Fame,  Elements  of,  216. 

Major,  a  travelling,  141. 

Magaw,  Colonel  Robert,  gallant  reply  of,  151;  surrender  of  Fort 
Washington  by,  176;  remarks  on  the  plan 
of  defence  adopted  by,  191;  inadequacy  of 
the  garrison,  191;  untenableness  of  the 
Fort,  186,  192;  captivity  and  marriage 
of,  318. 

Maitland,  Major,  210. 

Matthews,  Mayor,  252,  272. 

Matthews,  General,  264. 

Manuel,  Captain,  221. 

Mariner,  Mr.,  descent  of,  on  Long  Island,  316. 

Macauley,  Mrs.,  interview  of,  with  Washington,  359. 

Maryland  Senate,  346. 

Mazzei,  Mr.  Jefferson's  Letter  to,  traducing  Washington,  329. 

McHenry,  Dr.  James,  244. 

Menzies,  Colonel,  anecdote  of,  112;  escape  of,  from  the  enemy,  183. 

Mental  Derangement,  singular  case  of,  113. 

Melchior,  Colonel,  169. 

Mercer,  General,  200. 

Miles,  Colonel,  149,  257,  269,  275,  304. 

Mifflin,  General,  Thomas,  153,  154,  299,  356,  374. 

Midnight  Scene  in  Camp,  167. 

Militia,  Insubordination  of,  192. 

Militia  Captain,  a,  209. 

Miller,  Captain,  216. 

Military  Rank,  difficulties  in  the  adjustment  of,  319. 

Milton,  quotation  from,  331. 

Moore,  Lady  and  Daughter,  66. 

Morality  of  Fictitious  Heroes,  92. 

Morrisania,  Encampment  at,  173. 

Moncreif,  Major,  252;  capture  of,  317. 

Monmouth,  Battle  of,  457. 

National  Strength,  Reflections  on,  293. 

New  York,  military  preparations  in,  140;  alarm  at,  produced  by  the 


INDEX.  499 

result  of  the  battle  on  Long  Island,  163;  evacuation  of,  by 
the  American  army,  172;  conflagration  at,  178. 

New-England  Officers,  143,  156,  179;  vindication  of,  157. 

Noailles,  Viscount  De,  379. 

Novels,  injurious  influence  of,  92,  95. 

Nocturnal  Incident,  189. 

Ogle  and  Friend,  anecdotes  of,  51. 

O'Brian,  the  Comedian,  67. 

Otis,  Harrison  Grey,  Eulogium  of,  on  Hamilton,  376. 

Osborne,  Sir  George,  heartless  bon  mot  of,  366. 

Paxton  Boys,  46. 

Party  Spirit,  49,  350,  360,  369,  384,  401,  xxii. 

Parson,  a  Maryland,  103. 

Parma,  Prince  of,  masterly  retreat  of,  169. 

Paine,  Thomas,  187. 

Parole,  question  respecting,  260. 

Pauli,  Major,  265. 

Parvin,  Mr.,  oppression  of,  325. 

Paine,  Thomas,  358. 

Prescott,  Colonel,  423. 

Peale.  C.  W.,  61. 

Pemberton's  House  and  Gardens,  43. 

Penn,  Richard,  anecdote  of,  131;  popularity  of,  132. 

Penn,  John,  132. 

Penn  Family,  influence  of  the  Revolution  upon,  131. 

Pennsylvania,  exertions  of,  in  the  Revolution,  132;  foreigners  among 
the  troops  of,  181;  constitution  for,  286;  party  spirit 
in,  331,  350;  convention  for  changing  the  constitution* 
344;  debates  on  that  occasion,  345;  State  Senators, 
346,  Executive  power,  347;  re-eligibility  of  the  Gover 
nor,  348;  regulation  of  the  Press,  349;  threatened  in 
surrection  in,  372,  393. 

Philadelphia  in    1731,  19;  academy  of,  40;  yellow  fever  in,  1760, 
44;  taken  possession  of  by  General  Howe,  287;  theatri 
cals, 87. 
Pike,  Mr.  289. 

Prisoners,  difficulties  in  the  way  of  an  exchange  of,  257;  miserable 
condition  of,  232,  244,  270;  exchange  of,  245,  escape  of, 
from  Long  Island,  314 ;  general  exchange  of,  318. 
Pickering,  Colonel  Timothy,  355. 


500 


INDEX. 


Political  differences  with  England,  114. 

proscription,  401. 

inconsistency,  instance  of,  124. 

feelings,  284. 

Posts,  policy  of  a  war  of,  175. 
Promotion  not  always  the  reward  of  merit,  183. 
Popular  fanaticism,  395. 
Putnam,  Colonel,  147,  151. 
Putnam,  General,  169,  179,  180. 

Quakers,  friendliness  of,  towards  the  Indians,  23;  peaceful  principles 

of,  46,  122,  326. 
"Quaker  Blues,"  122. 

Raynal,  Abbe,  61. 

Rawlings,  Colonel,  194;  gallantry  of,  at  the  battle  of  Haerlem  Heights, 
197,  200,319, 

Randolph,  Edmund,  360. 

Reily,  John,  25. 

Reid,  General  John,  75. 

Reed,  General  Joseph,  character  and  services  of,  119. 

Revolution,  causes  of  the,  115;  opinions  of  HoraceWalpole  respecting, 
115;  disposition  of  the  people  towards,  122;  origination 
of,  in  the  upper  classes  of  society,  134;  influence,  of  Pa 
trick  Henry  in  producing,  135. 

Recruiting  adventures,  133,  137. 

Reubell  Domine,  253. 

Reading,  society  at,  299;  British  officers  on  parole  at,  304 ;  visiters 
at,  329. 

Republicans,  331. 

Richardson,  Mr.,  68;  anecdote  of  his  visit  to  Sir  William  Draper,  69. 

Richardson,  Captain,  255. 

Rivington,  the  King's  Printer,  77. 

Richardson's  novels,  94. 

Rivers,  difficulty  of  disputing  the  passage  of,  291. 

Robinson,  Mr.,  111. 

Ross,  John,  118,  394. 

Ross,  James,  352. 

Robertson,  General,  259. 

Rochefoucauld,  377. 

Rousseau,  400. 


INDEX.  501 

"  Sally  of  the  Alley,"  origin  of  the  ballad  of,  33. 
Sailing  excursion,  57. 
Skating,  59. 

Slate  Roof  House,  The,  62;  inmates  of,  De  Kalb,  64;  Badourin,  65; 
Lady  Moore,  65;  O'Brian,  67;  Sir  William  Draper, 
68;  Major  Etherington,  70;  Majors  Small  and  Fell, 
75;  Captain  Wallace,  75;  Rivington,  77. 

Sparks,  Mr.,  quoted,  127,  140,  177;  value  of  the  writings  of,  311. 
Smallwood,  Colonel  William,  150. 
Staten  Island,  occupation  of,  by  the  British,  153. 
Scammell,  Colonel,  mistake  of,  168. 
St.  Clair,  retreat  of,  from  Ticonderoga,  297. 
State  Senators,  mode  of  electing,  347. 
Stael,  Madame  De,  opinion  of,  355. 
Stevens,  Mr.,  41. 

Stedman,  Judge,  anecdote  of,  105. 
Stedman,6Mr.,  unfounded  censure  of,  192;  testimony  of,  to  the  gallantry 

of  the  Americans,  216. 
Skene,  Major,  127,  208,  228. 

Shee,  Colonel  John,  130,  138;  retirement  of,  from  the  army,  181. 
Stewart,  Colonel  Walter,  159,  313. 
Stewart,  Major  John,  escape  of,  314. 
Stewart,  Lieutenant,  trial  of,  179. 
Steddiford,  Ensign,  207. 
Speke,  Captain,  302. 
Sedition  Law,  349. 
Swimming  and  skating,  59. 
Smith,  James,  104;  anecdotes  of,  105. 
Skinner,  Alexander,  109,  110. 
Shippen,  Edward,  118. 
"Silk  Stocking  Company,  The,"  123. 
Smith,  General,  180. 
Sitgreaves,  Samuel,  352. 
Smilie,  John,  256. 
Singular  Fabrication,  392. 
School  Anecdotes,  56. 
Soldiers,  character  of  the,  148,  150,  156,  privations  of,  164,  panic  of, 

174;  contrast  in  the  appearance  of  the  British  and  American, 

314. 
Supernumerary  officers,  318. 


502  INDEX. 

Sunday,  injudicious  treatment  of  children  on,  21. 

Susquehanna  Bridge,  107. 

Schuyler,    General,    143,    character    of,    144;     conversation    with 

Washington  respecting  Arnold,  449. 
Sullivan's  "Familiar  Letters,"  quoted,  146,  276. 
StutzoB,  Mr.,  305. 
Suydam,  Jacob,  248,  253. 
Snyder,  Governor,  351. 

Tartar,  Privateer,  shipwreck  of,  19. 

Taylor,  Chevalier,  24. 

Taxes,  direct,  imposition  of,  389. 

Taxation  without  representation,  115,  117. 

Target-shooting,  125. 

Talleyrand,  an  American,  125. 

Talon,  M.,  379,  381. 

Theatre,  influence  of,  88. 

Tilghman,  J.,  117. 

Tilghman,  Colonel  Tench,  277. 

Tilghman,  Edward,  anecdote  of,  260. 

Ticonderoga,  capture  of,  by  Colonel  Allen,  242. 

Titles,  affectation  in,  314. 

Thomson,  Charles,  anecdote  of,  26;  character  of,  311. 

"Toper  and  the  Flies,"  origin  of  the  story  of,  79. 

Townshend,  Charles,  remark  of,  respecting  General  Johnstone;  120. 

Tudor,  Mr.,  private  correspondence  with,  271. 

Truxton,  Commodore,  395. 

United  States  Bank,  44. 

Vandyke,  Colonel,  108. 
Van  Zinder,  Domine,  253. 
Van  Home,  Mr.,  263,  279. 
Van  Home,  Misses,  265. 
Valley  Forge,  army  at,  313. 

Virginia,  aversion  of,  to  the  Infantry  Service,  158. 
Volunteer  Companies,  122;  Quaker  Blues,  123;  The  Silk  Stocking 
Company,  124. 

Wharton,  Mr.,  alias  Duke,  70. 


INDEX. 


503 


Wallace,  Captain,  insolence  and  brutality  of,  76. 

Wallace,  Mr.,  253. 

Wraxall,  quoted,  101. 

Walpole,  Horace,  quoted,  128. 

Wade,  Francis,  128. 

Washington,  opinions  of,  respecting  the  army,  148,  156;  vindication 
in  reference  to  the  Battle  of  Long  Island,  170;  chagrin 
of,  at  the  pusillanimity  of  his  soldiers  171;  sagacity  of, 
respecting  Fort  Washington,  176,  194;  tactics  of,  178; 
narrow  escape  of,  at  the  Battle  of  Haerlem  Heights,  200; 
interest  of,  in  Mr.  Graydon,  229;  marches  against  the 
enemy  at  Brandywine,  290,  incident  there,  455;  result 
of  the  Battle,  293;  subsequent  measures  of,  295;  opera 
tions  of,  at  Germantown,296;  cabal  against,  299;  election 
of,  to  the  Presidency,  343;  prosperity  of  the  country 
under  his  administration,  358;  neutrality  of,  in  reference 
to  France  and  England,  368;  suppression  of  the  whiskey 
insurrection  by,  373;  retires  from  the  Presidency,  382; 
character,  383,  and  death  of,  398;  Letter  of,  to  Mr. 
Duche,  433;  correspondence  with  General  Lee,  462; 
Letters  to  President  Reed,  449,  454,  466;  arrival  at  Har- 
risburgh,  478. 

Warren,  General,  421. 

Wayne,  General,  277. 

War,  reflections  on,  269. 

Ward,  General  Artemas,  157. 

Warren,  Captain,  221. 

Walsh,  Robert,  quoted,  408. 

West,  Major,  230,  269,  304. 

Western  Expedition,  374. 

Wilson,  James,  333,  344,  352. 

Wilson,  Captain,  212,  230. 

Wilson,  Judge,  39. 

Wirt,  William,  quoted,  136. 

Wilkinson,  General,  quoted,  139;  character  and  services  of,  297; 
opinion  of  Mr.  Graydon,  298. 

White  Plains,  action  at,  187. 

Williams,  Major,  Escape  of,  315. 

Williams,  General  Otho  Holland,  242. 


504  INDEX. 

Witherspoon,  Dr.,  307;  anecdote  of,  on  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence,  307, 

Whitemarsh,  army  at,  313. 
Whiskey  Insurrection,  372. 
Woodward,  The  Actor,  67. 

Wordsworth,  tribute  of,  to  LAMB  applied  to  Mr.  Graydon,  xxiv. 
Woedtke,  Baron,  140. 

Yarnall,  Dr.,  155. 

Yellow  Fever,  365;  causes  of,  at  Harrisburgh,  365. 
York,  past  and  present  condition  of,  100;  Society  at,  102,  106;  Con 
gress  at,  107. 


THE  END. 


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